.a 


ACONAN 


S.  EDWIN  CORLE,  JR. 

HIS   BOOK 


"'SHE    SEIZED   MY    SLEEVE   AND    PULLED   ME    BACK   WITH    CONVULSIVE 

STRENGTH '" 


JMernoiro  of 
Sherlock  fiolmes 


By  A.  CONAN  DOYLE 


Author  of  «« Adventures  of  Sherlock  Holmes,*'   «« Tale*  of 
Sherlock  Holmes,"  etc. 


WrrH  FOUR  ILLUSTRATION! 


A.  L.  BURT   COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK 


Published  by  arrangement  witii  Harper  &  Brothers 


Copyright,  1893,  by  A.  CONAN  DOYLE. 
Copyright,  1894,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  Of  AMERICA 
A-S 


CONTENTS 


MM 
XIII.— SILVER  BLAZE » 

XIV.— THE  YELLOW  FACE a* 

XV.— THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK 5« 

XVI.— THE  "GLORIA   SCOTT" 7» 

XVII.-THE  MUSGRAVE  RITUAL yt 

XVIII.-THE  REIGATE   PUZZLE 114 

XIX.-THE  CROOKED   MAN    .    .    .         13? 

XX.— THE  RESIDENT  PATIENT 157 

XXI.-THE  GREEK   INTERPRETER 179 

XXII.— THE  NAVAL  TREATY 200 

XXIII.— THE  FINAL  PROBLEM ,839 


NOTE. — The  first  twelve  Adventures  of  Sherlock  Holmes  will  be  found 
in  the  volume  published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  entitled  "Adventures 
of  Sherlock  Holmes."  It  is  uniform  in  size  and  price  with  "  Memoirs  of 
Sherlock  Holmes." 


2031454 


B&venture  fill 

SILVER    BLAZE 

AM  afraid,  Watson,  that  I  shall  have  to  go." 
said  Holmes,  as  we  sat  down  together  to  our 
breakfast  one  morning. 
"  Go !    Where  to  ?" 
"  To  Dartmoor ;  to  King's  Pyland." 

I  was  not  surprised.  Indeed,  my  only  wonder  was  that  he 
had  not  already  been  mixed  up  in  this  extraordinary  case, 
which  was  the  one  topic  of  conversation  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  England.  For  a  whole  day  my  companion 
had  rambled  about  the  room  with  his  chin  upon  his  chest 
and  his  brows  knitted,  charging  and  recharging  his  pipe  with 
the  strongest  black  tobacco,  and  absolutely  deaf  to  any  of 
my  questions  or  remarks.  Fresh  editions  of  every  paper  had 
been  sent  up  by  our  news  agent,  only  to  be  glanced  over  and 
tossed  down  into  a  corner.  Yet,  silent  as  he  was,  I  knew 
perfectly  weli  what  it  was  over  which  he  was  brooding. 
There  was  but  one  problem  before  the  public  which  could 
challenge  his  powers  of  analysis,  and  that  was  the  singular 
disappearance  of  the  favorite  for  the  Wessex  Cup,  and  the 
tragic  murder  of  its  trainer.  When,  therefore,  he  suddenly 
announced  his  intention  of  setting  out  for  the  scene  of  the 
drama  it  was  only  what  I  had  both  expected  and  hoped  for. 

"  I  should  be  most  happy  to  go  down  with  you  if  I  should 
not  be  in  the  way,"  said  I. 

"  My  dear  Watson,  you  would  confer  a  great  favor  upon 
me  by  coming.  And  I  think  that  your  time  will  not  be  mis- 
spent, for  there  are  points  about  the  case  which  promise  to 


2  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK.  HOLMES 

make  it  an  absolutely  unique  one.  We  have,  I  think,  just 
time  to  catch  our  train  at  Paddington,  and  I  will  go  further 
into  the  matter  upon  our  journey.  You  would  oblige  me  by 
bringing  with  you  your  very  excellent  field-glass." 

And  so  it  happened  that  an  hour  or  so  later  I  found  my- 
self  in  the  corner  of  a  first-class  carriage  flying  along  en  route 
for  Exeter,  while  Sherlock  Holmes,  with  his  sharp,  eager  face 
framed  in  his  ear-flapped  travelling-cap,  dipped  rapidly  into 
the  bundle  of  fresh  papers  which  he  had  procured  at  Pad- 
dington. We  had  left  Reading  far  behind  us  before  he  thrust 
the  last  one  of  them  under  the  seat,  and  offered  me  his  cigar- 
case. 

"  We  are  going  well,"  said  he,  looking  out  of  the  window 
and  glancing  at  his  watch.  "  Our  rate  at  present  is  fifty-three 
and  a  half  miles  an  hour." 

"  I  have  not  observed  the  quarter-mile  posts,"  said  I. 

"  Nor  have  I.  But  the  telegraph  posts  upon  this  line  are 
sixty  yards  apart,  and  the  calculation  is  a  simple  one.  I  pre- 
sume that  you  have  looked  into  this  matter  of  the  murder  o* 
John  Straker  and  the  disappearance  of  Silver  Blaze  ?" 

"  I  have  seen  what  the  Telegraph  and  the  Chronicle  have  to 
say." 

"  It  is  one  of  those  cases  where  the  art  of  the  reasoner 
should  be  used  rather  for  the  sifting  of  details  than  for  the 
acquiring  of  fresh  evidence.  The  tragedy  has  been  so  un- 
common, so  complete,  and  of  such  personal  importance  to  so 
many  people,  that  we  are  suffering  from  a  plethora  of  surmise, 
conjecture,  and  hypothesis.  The  difficulty  is  to  detach  the 
framework  of  fact — of  absolute  undeniable  fact — from  the 
embellishments  of  theorists  and  reporters.  Then,  having  es- 
tablished ourselves  upon  this  sound  basis,  it  is  our  duty  to 
see  what  inferences  may  be  drawn  and  what  are  the  special 
points  upon  which  the  whole  mystery  turns.  On  Tuesday 
evening  I  received  telegrams  from  both  Colonel  Ross,  the 
owner  of  the  horse,  and  from  Inspector  Gregory,  who  is  look- 
ing after  the  case,  inviting  my  co-operation." 


SILVER   BLAZE  3 

"  Tuesday  evening  !"  I  exclaimed.  "  And  this  is  Thursday 
morning.  Why  didn't  you  go  down  yesterday  ?" 

"  Because  I  made  a  blunder,  my  dear  Watson — which  is,  I 
am  afraid,  a  more  common  occurrence  than  any  one  would 
think  who  only  knew  me  through  your  memoirs.  The  fact  is 
that  1  could  not  believe  it  possible  that  the  most  remarkable 
horse  in  England  could  long  remain  concealed,  especially  in 
so  sparsely  inhabited  a  place  as  the  north  of  Dartmoor.  From 
hour  to  hour  yesterday  I  expected  to  hear  that  he  had  been 
found,  and  that  his  abductor  was  the  murderer  of  John  Stra- 
ker.  When,  however,  another  morning  had  come,  and  I  found 
that  beyond  the  arrest  of  young  Fitzroy  Simpson  nothing  had 
been  done,  I  felt  that  it  was  time  for  me  to  take  action.  Yet 
in  some  ways  I  feel  that  yesterday  has  not  been  wasted." 

"  You  have  formed  a  theory,  then  ?" 

"  At  least  I  have  got  a  grip  of  the  essential  facts  of  the  case. 
I  shall  enumerate  them  to  you,  for  nothing  clears  up  a  case 
so  much  as  stating  it  to  another  person,  and  I  can  hardly  ex- 
pect your  co-operation  if  I  do  not  show  you  the  position  from 
which  we  start." 

I  lay  back  against  the  cushions,  puffing  at  my  cigar,  while 
Holmes,  leaning  forward,  with  his  long,  thin  forefinger  check- 
ing off  the  points  upon  the  palm  of  his  left  hand  gave  me  a 
sketch  of  the  events  which  had  led  to  our  journey. 

"  Silver  Blaze,"  said  he,  "  is  from  the  Somomy  stock,  and 
holds  as  brilliant  a  record  as  his  famous  ancestor.  He  is  now 
in  his  fifth  year,  and  has  brought  in  turn  each  of  the  prizes 
of  the  turf  to  Colonel  Ross,  his  fortunate  owner.  Up  to  the 
time  of  the  catastrophe  he  was  the  first  favorite  for  the  Wes- 
sex  Cup,  the  betting  being  three  to  one  on  him.  He  has 
always,  however,  been  a  prime  favorite  with  the  racing  public, 
and  has  never  yet  disappointed  them,  so  that  even  at  those 
odds  enormous  sums  of  money  have  been  laid  upon  him.  It 
is  obvious,  therefore,  that  there  were  many  people  who  had 
the  strongest  interest  in  preventing  Silver  Blaze  from  being 
there  at  the  fall  of  the  flag  next  Tuesday. 


4  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"The  fact  was,  of  course,  appreciated  at  King's  Pyland, 
where  the  Colonel's  training-stable  is  situated.  Every  pre- 
caution was  taken  to  guard  the  favorite.  The  trainer,  John 
Straker,  is  a  retired  jockey  who  rode  in  Colonel  Ross's  colors 
before  he  became  too  heavy  for  the  weighing-chair.  He  has 
served  the  Colonel  for  five  years  as  jockey  and  for  seven  as 
trainer,  and  has  always  shown  himself  to  be  a  zealous  and 
honest  servant.  Under  him  were  three  lads ;  for  the  estab- 
lishment was  a  small  one,  containing  only  four  horses  in  all. 
One  of  these  lads  sat  up  each  night  in  the  stable,  while  the 
others  slept  in  the  loft.  All  three  bore  excellent  characters. 
John  Straker,  who  is  a  married  man,  lived  in  a  small  villa 
about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  stables.  He  has  no  chil- 
dren, keeps  one  maid-servant,  and  is  comfortably  off.  The 
country  round  is  very  lonely,  but  about  half  a  mile  to  the 
north  there  is  a  small  cluster  of  villas  which  have  been  built 
by  a  Tavistock  contractor  for  the  use  of  invalids  and  others 
who  may  wish  to  enjoy  the  pure  Dartmoor  air.  Tavistock 
itself  lies  two  miles  to  the  west,  while  across  the  moor,  also 
about  two  miles  distant,  is  the  larger  training  establishment 
of  Mapleton,  which  belongs  to  Lord  Backwater,  and  is  man- 
aged by  Silas  Brown.  In  every  other  direction  the  moor  is  a 
complete  wilderness,  inhabited  only  by  a  few  roaming  gypsies. 
Such  was  the  general  situation  last  Monday  night  when  the 
catastrophe  occurred. 

"  On  that  evening  the  horses  had  been  exercised  and  wa- 
tered as  usual,  and  the  stables  were  locked  up  at  nine  o'clock. 
Two  of  the  lads  walked  up  to  the  trainer's  house,  where  they 
had  supper  in  the  kitchen,  while  the  third,  Ned  Hunter,  re- 
mained on  guard.  At  a  few  minutes  after  nine  the  maid, 
Edith  Baxter,  carried  down  to  the  st-ables  his  supper,  which 
consisted  of  a  dish  of  curried  mutton.  She  took  no  liquid, 
as  there  was  a  water-tap  in  the  stables,  and  it  was  the  rule 
that  the  lad  on  duty  should  drink  nothing  else.  The  maid 
carried  a  lantern  with  her,  as  it  was  very  dark  and  the  path 
ran  across  the  open  moor. 


SILVER   BLAZE  5 

"  Edith  Baxter  was  within  thirty  yards  of  the  stables,  when 
a  man  appeared  out  of  the  darkness  and  called  to  her  to  stop. 
As  he  stepped  into  the  circle  of  yellow  light  thrown  by  the 
lantern  she  saw  that  he  was  a  person  of  gentlemanly  bearing, 
dressed  in  a  gray  suit  of  tweeds,  with  a  cloth  cap.  He  wore 
gaiters,  and  carried  a  heavy  stick  with  a  knob  to  it.  She  was 
most  impressed,  however,  by  the  extreme  pallor  of  his  face 
and  by  the  nervousness  of  his  manner.  His  age,  she  thought, 
would  be  rather  over  thirty  than  under  it. 

"  '  Can  you  tell  me  where  I  am  ?'  he  asked.  c  I  had  almost 
made  up  my  mind  to  sleep  on  the  moor,  when  I  saw  the  light 
of  your  lantern.' 

" '  You  are  close  to  the  King's  Pyland  training-stables/ 
said  she. 

"  '  Oh,  indeed  !  What  a  stroke  of  luck  !'  he  cried.  '  I  un- 
derstand that  a  stable-boy  sleeps  there  alone  every  night. 
Perhaps  that  is  his  supper  which  you  are  carrying  to  him. 
Now  I  am  sure  that  you  would  not  be  too  proud  to  eara  the 
price  of  a  new  dress,  would  you  ?'  He  took  a  piece  of  white 
paper  folded  up  out  of  his  waistcoat  pocket.  '  See  that  the 
boy  has  this  to-night,  and  you  shall  have  the  prettiest  frock 
that  money  can  buy.' 

"  She  was  frightened  by  the  earnestness  of  his  manner,  and 
ran  past  him  to  the  window  through  which  she  was  accus- 
tomed to  hand  the  meals.  It  was  already  opened,  and  Hun- 
ter was  seated  at  the  small  table  inside.  She  had  begun  to 
tell  him  of  what  had  happened,  when  the  stranger  came  up 
again. 

"  'Good-evening,'  said  he,  looking  through  the  window.  'I 
wanted  to  have  a  word  with  you.'  The  girl  has  sworn  that 
as  he  spoke  she  noticed  the  corner  of  the  little  paper  packet 
protruding  from  his  closed  hand. 

" '  What  business  have  you  here  ?'  asked  the  lad. 

"  '  It's  business  that  may  put  something  into  your  pocket,' 
said  the  other.  '  You've  two  horses  in  for  the  Wessex  Cup — 
Silver  Blaze  and  Bayard.  Let  me  have  the  straight  tip  and 


6  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

you  won't  be  a  loser.  Is  it  a  fact  that  at  the  .veights  Bayard 
could  give  the  other  a  hundred  yards  in  five  furlongs,  and 
that  the  stable  have  put  their  money  on  him?' 

" '  So,  you're  one  of  those  damned  touts !'  cried  the  lad. 
'  I'll  show  you  how  we  serve  them  in  King's  Pyland.'  He 
sprang  up  and  rushed  across  the  stable  to  unloose  the  dog. 
The  girl  fled  away  to  the  house,  but  as  she  ran  she  looked 
back  and  saw  that  the  stranger  was  leaning  through  the  win- 
dow. A  minute  later,  however,  when  Hunter  rushed  out  with 
the  hound  he  was  gone,  and  though  he  ran  all  round  the 
buildings  he  failed  to  find  any  trace  of  him." 

"  One  moment,"  I  asked.  "  Did  the  stable-boy,  when  he 
ran  out  with  the  dog,  leave  the  door  unlocked  behind  him  ?" 

"  Excellent,  Watson,  excellent !"  murmured  my  companion. 
"  The  importance  of  the  point  struck  me  so  forcibly  that  I 
sent  a  special  wire  to  Dartmoor  yesterday  to  clear  the  matter 
up.  The  boy  locked  the  door  before  he  left  it.  The  window, 
J  may  add,  was  not  large  enough  for  a  man  to  get  through. 

"  Hunter  waited  until  his  fellow-grooms  had  returned,  when 
he  sent  a  message  to  the  trainer  and  told  him  what  had  oc- 
curred. Straker  was  excited  at  hearing  the  account,  although 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  quite  realized  its  true  significance. 
It  left  him,  however,  vaguely  uneasy,  and  Mrs.  Straker,  waking 
at  one  in  the  morning,  found  that  he  was  dressing.  In  reply 
to  her  inquiries,  he  said  that  he  could  not  sleep  on  account  of 
his  anxiety  about  the  horses,  and  that  he  intended  to  walk 
down  to  the  stables  to  see  that  all  was  well.  She  begged  him 
to  remain  at  home,  as  she  could  hear  the  rain  pattering  against 
the  window,  but  in  spite  of  her  entreaties  he  pulled  on  his 
large  mackintosh  and  left  the  house. 

"  Mrs.  Straker  awoke  at  seven  in  the  morning,  to  find  that 
her  husband  had  not  yet  returned.  She  dressed  herself  has- 
tily, called  the  maid,  and  set  off  for  the  stables.  The  door 
was  open ;  inside,  huddled  together  upon  a  chair,  Hunter  was 
sunk  in  a  state  of  absolute  stupor,  the  favorite's  stall  was 
empty,  and  there  were  no  signs  of  his  trainer. 


SILVER    BLAZE  7 

"The  two  lads  who  slept  in  the  chaff-cutting  loft  above  the 
harness-room  were  quickly  aroused.  They  had  heard  nothing 
during  the  night,  for  they  are  both  sound  sleepers.  Hunter 
vas  obviously  under  the  influence  of  some  powerful  drug,  and 
as  no  sense  could  be  got  out  of  him,  he  was  left  to  sleep  it 
off  while  the  two  lads  and  the  two  women  ran  out  in  search 
of  the  absentees.  They  still  had  hopes  that  the  trainer  had 
for  some  reason  taken  out  the  horse  for  early  exercise,  but  on 
ascending  the  knoll  near  the  house,  from  which  ail  the  neigh- 
boring moors  were  visible,  they  not  only  could  see  no  signs 
of  the  missing  favorite,  but  they  perceived  something  which 
warned  them  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  a  tragedy. 

"  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  stables  John  Straker's 
overcoat  was  flapping  from  a  furze-bush.  Immediately  be- 
yond there  was  a  bowl-shaped  depression  in  the  moor,  and  at 
the  bottom  of  this  was  found  the  dead  body  of  the  uafortu- 
nate  trainer.  His  head  had  been  shattered  by  a  savage  blow 
from  some  heavy  weapon,  and  he  was  wounded  on  the  thigh, 
where  there  was  a  long,  clean  cut,  inflicted  evidently  by  some 
very  sharp  instrument.  It  was  clear,  however,  that  Straker 
had  defended  himself  vigorously  against  his  assailants,  for  in 
his  right  hand  he  held  a  small  knife,  which  was  clotted  with 
blood  up  to  the  handle,  while  in  his  left  he  clasped  a  red  and 
black  silk  cravat,  which  was  recognized  by  the  maid  as  having 
been  worn  on  the  preceding  evening  by  the  stranger  who  had 
visited  the  stables.  Hunter,  on  recovering  from  his  stupor,  was 
also  quite  positive  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  cravat.  He  was 
equally  certain  that  the  same  stranger  had,  while  standing  at 
the  window,  drugged  his  curried  mutton,  and  so  deprived  the 
stables  of  their  watchman.  As  to  the  missing  horse,  there 
were  abundant  proofs  in  the  mud  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of 
the  fatal  hollow  that  he  had  been  there  at  the  time  of  the 
struggle.  But  from  that  morning  he  has  disappeared,  and 
although  a  large  reward  has  been  offered,  and  all  the  gyp- 
sies of  Dartmoor  are  on  the  alert,  no  news  has  corae  of  him. 
Finally,  an  analysis  has  shown  that  the  remains  of  his  supper 


8  MEMOTRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

)ctt  by  the  stable-lad  contain  an  appreciable  quantity  of  pow< 
dered  opium,  while  the  people  at  the  house  partook  of  the 
same  dish  on  the  same  night  without  any  IT  effect. 

"  Those  are  the  main  facts  of  the  case,  stripped  of  all  sur- 
mise, and  stated  as  baldly  as  possible.  I  shall  now  recapitu- 
late what  the  police  have  done  in  the  matter. 

"  Inspector  Gregory,  to  whom  the  case  has  been  commit- 
ted, is  an  extremely  competent  officer.  Were  he  but  gifted 
with  imagination  he  might  rise  to  great  heights  in  his  profes- 
sion. On  his  arrival  he  promptly  found  and  arrested  the  man 
upon  whom  suspicion  naturally  rested.  There  was  little  diffi- 
culty in  finding  him,  for  he  inhabited  one  of  those  villas  which 
I  have  mentioned.  His  name,  it  appears,  was  Fitzroy  Simp- 
son. He  was  a  man  of  excellent  birth  and  education,  who  had 
squandered  a  fortune  upon  the  turf,  and  who  lived  now  by 
doing  a  little  quiet  and  genteel  book-making  in  the  sporting 
clubs  of  London.  An  examination  of  his  betting-book  shows 
that  bets  to  the  amount  of  five  thousand  pounds  had  been 
registered  by  him  against  the  favorite.  On  being  arrested  he 
volunteered  the  statement  that  he  had  come  down  to  Dart- 
moor in  the  hope  of  getting  some  information  about  the 
King's  Pyland  horses,  and  also  about  Desborough,  the  second 
favorite,  which  was  in  charge  of  Silas  Brown  at  the  Mapleton 
stables.  He  did  not  attempt  to  deny  that  he  had  acted  as 
described  upon  the  evening  before,  but  declared  that  he  had 
no  sinister  designs,  and  had  simply  wished  to  obtain  first-hand 
information.  When  confronted  with  his  cravat,  he  turned 
very  pale,  and  was  utterly  unable  to  account  for  its  presence 
in  the  hand  of  the  murdered  man.  His  wet  clothing  showed 
that  he  had  been  out  in  the  storm  of  the  night  before,  and  his 
stick,  which  was  a  Penang-lawyer  weighted  with  lead,  was  just 
such  a  weapon  as  might,  by  repeated  blows,  have  inflicted  the 
terrible  injuries  to  which  the  trainer  had  succumbed.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  was  no  wound  upon  his  person,  while  the 
state  of  Straker's  knife  would  show  that  one  at  least  of  his 
assailants  must  bear  his  mark  upon  him.  There  you  have 


SILVER   BLAZE  9 

it  all  in  a  nutshell,  Watson,  and  if  you  can  give  me  any  light  I 
shall  be  infinitely  obliged  to  you." 

I  had  listened  with  the  greatest  interest  to  the  statement 
which  Holmes,  with  characteristic  clearness,  had  laid  before 
me.  Though  most  of  the  facts  were  familiar  to  me,  I  had  not 
sufficiently  appreciated  their  relative  importance,  nor  their 
connection  to  each  other. 

"  Is  it  not  possible,"  I  suggested,  "  that  the  incised  wound 
upon  Straker  may  have  been  caused  by  his  own  knife  in  the 
convulsive  struggles  which  follow  any  brain  injury  ?" 

"  It  is  more  than  possible  ;  it  is  probable,"  said  Holmes. 
"  In  that  case  one  of  the  main  points  in  favor  of  the  accused 
disappears." 

"  And  yet,"  said  I, "  even  now  I  fail  to  understand  what  the 
theory  of  the  police  can  be." 

"  I  am  afraid  that  whatever  theory  we  state  has  very  grave 
objections  to  it,"  returned  my  companion.  "The  police  im- 
agine, I  take  it,  that  this  Fitzroy  Simpson,  having  drugged 
the  lad,  and  having  in  some  way  obtained  a  duplicate  key, 
opened  the  stable  door  and  took  out  the  horse,  with  the  inten- 
tion, apparently,  of  kidnapping  him  altogether.  His  bridle  is 
missing,  se  that  Simpson  must  have  put  this  on.  Then,  hav- 
ing left  the  door  open  behind  him,  he  was  leading  the  horse 
away  over  the  moor,  when  he  was  either  met  or  overtaken  by 
the  trainer.  A  row  naturally  ensued.  Simpson  beat  out  the 
trainer's  brains  with  his  heavy  stick  without  receiving  any  in- 
jury from  the  small  knife  which  Straker  used  in  self-defence, 
and  then  the  thief  either  led  the  horse  on  to  some  secret 
hiding-place,  or  else  it  may  have  bolted  during  the  struggle, 
and  be  now  wandering  out  on  the  moors.  That  is  the  case  as 
it  appears  to  the  police,  and  improbable  as  it  is,  all  other  ex- 
planations are  more  improbable  still.  However,  I  shall  very 
quickly  test  the  matter  when  I  am  once  upon  the  spot,  and 
until  then  I  cannot  really  see  how  we  can  get  much  further 
than  our  present  position." 


fC  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

It  was  evening  before  we  reached  the  little  town  of  Tavis- 
tock,  which  lies,  like  the  boss  of  a  shield,  in  the  middle  of  the 
huge  circle  of  Dartmoor.  Two  gentlemen  were  awaiting  us  in 
the  station — the  one  a  tall,  fair  man  with  lion-like  hair  and 
beard,  and  curiously  penetrating  light  blue  eyes ;  the  other  a 
small,  alert  person,  very  neat  and  dapper,  in  a  frock-coat  and 
gaiters,  with  trim  little  side-whiskers  and  an  eye-glass.  The 
latter  was  Colonel  Ross,  the  well-known  sportsman ;  the  other, 
Inspector  Gregory,  a  man  who  was  rapidly  making  his  name 
in  the  English  detective  service. 

"  I  am  delighted  that  you  have  come  down,  Mr.  Holmes," 
said  the  Colonel.  "The  Inspector  here  has  done  all  that 
could  possibly  be  suggested,  but  I  wish  to  leave  no  stone  un- 
turned in  trying  to  avenge  poor  Straker  and  in  recovering  my 
horse." 

"  Have  there  been  any  fresh  developments  ?"  asked  Holmes. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  we  have  made  very  little  progress," 
said  the  Inspector.  "  We  have  an  open  carriage  outside,  and 
as  you  would  no  doubt  like  to  see  the  place  before  the  light 
fails,  we  might  talk  it  over  as  we  drive." 

A  minute  later  we  were  all  seated  in  a  comfortable;  landau, 
and  were  rattling  through  the  quaint  old  Devonshire  city. 
Inspector  Gregory  was  full  of  his  case,  and  poured  out  a 
stream  of  remarks,  while  Holmes  threw  in  an  occasional 
question  or  interjection.  Colonel  Ross  leaned  back  with  his 
arms  folded  and  his  hat  tilted  over  his  eyes,  while  I  listened 
with  interest  to  the  dialogue  of  the  two  detectives.  Gregory 
was  formulating  his  theory,  which  was  almost  exactly  what 
Holmes  had  foretold  in  the  train. 

"  The  net  is  drawn  pretty  close  round  Fitzroy  Simpson,"  he 
remarked,  "  and  I  believe  myself  that  he  is  our  man.  At  the 
same  time  I  recognize  that  the  evidence  is  purely  circumstan- 
tial, and  that  some  new  development  may  upset  it." 

"  How  about  Straker's  knife  ?" 

"  We  have  quite  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  wounded 
himself  in  his  fall." 


SILVER   BLAZE  IX 

11  My  friend  Dr.  Watson  made  that  suggestion  to  me  as  we 
came  down.  If  so,  it  would  tell  against  this  man  Simpson." 

"  Undoubtedly.  He  has  neither  a  knife  nor  any  sign  of  a 
wound.  The  evidence  against  him  is  certainly  very  strong. 
He  had  a  great  interest  in  the  disappearance  of  the  favorite. 
He  lies  under  suspicion  of  having  poisoned  the  stable-boy, 
he  was  undoubtedly  out  in  the  storm,  he  was  armed  with  a 
heavy  stick,  and  his  cravat  was  found  in  the  dead  man's 
hand.  I  really  think  we  have  enough  to  go  before  a  jury." 

Holmes  shook  his  head.  "  A  clever  counsel  would  tear  it 
all  to  rags,"  said  he.  "Why  should  he  take  the  horse  out  of 
the  stable  ?  If  he  wished  to  injure  it  why  could  he  not  do  it 
there  ?  Has  a  duplicate  key  been  found  in  his  possession  ? 
What  chemist  sold  him  the  powdered  opium  ?  Above  all, 
where  could  he,  a  stranger  to  the  district,  hide  a  horse,  and 
such  a  horse  as  this  ?  What  is  his  own  explanation  as  to  the 
paper  which  he  wished  the  maid  to  give  to  the  stable-boy  ?" 

"  He  says  that  it  was  a  ten-pound  note.  One  was  found  in 
his  purse.  But  your  other  difficulties  are  not  so  formidable 
as  they  seem.  He  is  not  a  stranger  to  the  district.  He  has 
twice  lodged  at  Tavistock  in  the  summer.  The  opium  was 
probably  brought  from  London.  The  key,  having  served  its 
purpose,  would  be  hurled  away.  The  horse  may  be  at  the  bot- 
tom of  one  of  the  pits  or  old  mines  upon  the  moor." 

"  What  does  he  say  about  the  cravat  ?" 

"  He  acknowledges  that  it  is  his,  and  declares  that  he  had 
lost  it.  But  a  new  element  has  been  introduced  into  the  case 
which  may  account  for  his  leading  the  horse  from  the  stable." 

Holmes  pricked  up  his  ears. 

"  We  have  found  traces  which  show  that  a  party  of  gypsies 
encamped  on  Monday  night  within  a  mile  of  the  spot  where 
the  murder  took  place.  On  Tuesday  they  were  gone.  Now, 
presuming  that  there  was  some  understanding  between  Simp- 
son and  these  gypsies,  might  he  not  have  been  leading  the 
horse  to  them  when  he  was  overtaken,  and  may  they  not  have 
him  now  ?" 


12  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"It  is  certainly  possible." 

"  The  moor  is  being  scoured  for  these  gypsies.  I  have  also 
examined  every  stable  and  out-house  in  Tavistock,  and  for  a 
radius  of  ten  miles." 

"There  is  another  training -stable  quite  close,  I  under- 
stand ?" 

"Yes,  and  that  is  a  factor  which  we  must  certainly  not 
neglect  As  Desborough,  their  horse,  was  second  in  the  bet- 
ting, they  had  an  interest  in  the  disappearance  of  the  favor- 
ite. Silas  Brown,  the  trainer,  is  known  to  have  had  large  bets 
upon  the  event,  and  he  was  no  friend  to  poor  Straker.  We 
have,  however,  examined  the  stables,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
connect  him  with  the  affair." 

"  And  nothing  to  connect  this  man  Simpson  with  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Mapleton  stables  ?" 

"  Nothing  at  all." 

Holmes  leaned  back  in  the  carriage,  and  the  conversation 
ceased.  A  few  minutes  later  our  driver  pulled  up  at  a  neat 
little  red-brick  villa  with  overhanging  eaves  which  stood  by 
the  road.  Some  distance  off,  across  a  paddock,  lay  a  long 
gray-tiled  out- building.  In  every  other  direction  the  low 
curves  of  the  moor,  bronze-colored  from  the  fading  ferns, 
stretched  away  to  the  sky-line,  broken  only  by  the  steeples  of 
Tavistock,  and  by  a  cluster  of  houses  away  to  the  westward 
which  marked  the  Mapleton  stables.  We  all  sprang  out  with 
the  exception  of  Holmes,  who  continued  to  lean  back  with  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  sky  in  front  of  him,  entirely  absorbed  in 
his  own  thoughts.  It  was  only  when  I  touched  his  arm  that 
he  roused  himself  with  a  violent  start  and  stepped  out  of  the 
carriage. 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  he,  turning  to  Colonel  Ross,  who  had 
looked  at  him  in  some  surprise.  "I  was  day-dreaming." 
There  was  a  gleam  in  his  eyes  and  a  suppressed  excitement 
in  his  manner  which  convinced  me,  used  as  I  was  to  his  ways, 
that  his  hand  was  upon  a  clue,  though  I  could  not  imagine 
where  he  had  found  it 


SILVER   BLAZE  13 

"  Perhaps  you  would  prefer  at  once  to  go  on  to  the  scene 
of  the  crime,  Mr.  Holmes  ?"  said  Gregory. 

"  I  think  that  I  should  prefer  to  stay  here  a  little  and  go 
into  one  or  two  questions  of  detail.  Straker  was  brought 
back  here,  I  presume  ?" 

"Yes;  he  lies  upstairs.     The  inquest  is  to-morrow." 

"  He  has  been  in  your  service  some  years,  Colonel  Ross  ?" 

"I  have  always  found  him  an  excellent  servant. ' 

"  I  presume  that  you  made  an  inventory  of  what  he  had  in 
his  pockets  at  the  time  of  his  death,  Inspector  ?" 

"  I  have  the  things  themselves  in  the  sitting-roorn,  if  you 
would  care  to  see  them." 

"  I  should  be  very  glad."  We  all  filed  into  the  front  room 
and  sat  round  the  central  table  while  the  Inspector  unlocked 
a  square  tin  box  and  laid  a  small  heap  of  things  before  us. 
There  was  a  box  of  vestas,  two  inches  of  tallow  candle,  an 
A  D  P  brier-root  pipe,  a  pouch  of  seal-skin  with  half  an  ounce 
of  long-cut  Cavendish,  a  silver  watch  with  a  gold  chain,  five 
sovereigns  in  gold,  an  aluminium  pencil-case,  a  few  papers, 
and  an  ivory-handled  knife  with  a  very  delicate,  inflexible 
blade  marked  Weiss  &  Co.,  London. 

"  This  is  a  very  singular  knife,"  said  Holmes,  lifting  it  up 
and  examining  it  minutely.  "  I  presume,  as  I  see  blood-stains 
upon  it,  that  it  is  the  one  which  was  found  in  the  dead  man's 
grasp.  Watson,  this  knife  is  surely  in  your  line  ?" 

"  It  is  what  we  call  a  cataract  knife,"  said  I. 

"  I  thought  so.  A  very  delicate  blade  devised  for  very  del- 
icate work.  A  strange  thing  for  a  man  to  carry  with  him 
upon  a  rough  expedition,  especially  as  it  would  not  shut  in  his 
pocket." 

"  The  tip  was  guarded  by  a  disk  of  cork  which  we  found 
beside  his  body,"  said  the  Inspector.  "  His  wife  tells  us  that 
the  knife  had  lain  upon  the  dressing-table,  and  that  he  had 
picked  it  up  as  he  left  the  room.  It  was  a  poor  weapon,  but 
perhaps  the  best  that  he  could  lay  his  hands  on  at  the  mo- 
ment." 


14  MEMOIRS  OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  Very  possibly.     How  about  these  papers  ?" 

"  Three  of  them  are  receipted  hay-dealers'  accounts.  One 
of  them  is  a  letter  of  instructions  from  Colonel  Ross.  This 
other  is  a  milliner's  account  for  thirty-seven  pounds  fifteen 
made  out  by  Madame  Lesurier,  of  Bond  Street,  to  William 
Derbyshire.  Mrs.  Straker  tells  us  that  Derbyshire  was  a 
friend  of  her  husband's,  and  that  occasionally  his  letters  were 
addressed  here." 

"  Madame  Derbyshire  had  somewhat  expensive  tastes,"  re- 
marked Holmes,  glancing  down  the  account.  "Twenty-two 
guineas  is  rather  heavy  for  a  single  costume.  However,  there 
appears  to  be  nothing  more  to  learn,  and  we  may  now  go 
down  to  the  scene  of  the  crime." 

As  we  emerged  from  the  sitting-room  a  woman,  who  had 
been  waiting  in  the  passage,  took  a  step  forward  and  laid  her 
hand  upon  the  Inspector's  sleeve.  Her  face  was  haggard  and 
thin  and  eager,  stamped  with  the  print  of  a  recent  horror. 

"  Have  you  got  them  ?  Have  you  found  them  ?"  she 
panted. 

"  No,  Mrs.  Straker.  But  Mr.  Holmes  here  has  come  from 
London  to  help  us,  and  we  shall  do  all  that  is  possible." 

"  Surely  I  met  you  in  Plymouth  at  a  garden-party  some  lit- 
tle time  ago,  Mrs.  Straker  ?"  said  Holmes. 

"No,  sir;  you  are  mistaken." 

"  Dear  me !  Why,  I  could  have  sworn  to  it.  You  wore 
a  costume  of  dove-colored  silk  with  ostrich  -  feather  trim- 
ming." 

"  I  never  had  such  a  dress,  sir,"  answered  the  lady. 

"  Ah,  that  quite  settles  it,"  said  Holmes.  And  with  an 
apology  he  followed  the  Inspector  outside.  A  short  vralk 
across  the  moor  took  us  to  the  hollow  in  which  the  body 
had  been  found.  At  the  brink  of  it  was  the  furze-bush  upon 
which  the  coat  had  been  hung. 

"  There    was    no    wind   that   night,   I   understand," 
Holmes. 

"  None;  but  very  heavy  rain." 


SILVER   BLAZE  15 

"  In  that  case  the  overcoat  was  not  blown  against  the 
furze-bushes,  but  placed  there." 

"  Yes,  it  was  laid  across  the  bush." 

"  You  fill  me  with  interest.  I  perceive  that  the  ground  has 
been  trampled  up  a  good  deal.  No  doubt  many  feet  have 
been  here  since  Monday  night." 

"  A  piece  of  matting  has  been  laid  here  at  the  side,  and  we 
have  all  stood  upon  that." 

"  Excellent." 

"  In  this  bag  I  have  one  of  the  boots  which  Straker  wore, 
one  of  Fitzroy  Simpson's  shoes,  and  a  cast  horseshoe  of 
Silver  Blaze." 

"  My  dear  Inspector,  you  surpass  yourself !"  Holmes  took 
the  bag,  and,  descending  into  the  hollow,  he  pushed  the  mat- 
ting into  a  more  central  position.  Then  stretching  himself 
upon  his  face  and  leaning  his  chin  upon  his  hands,  he  made 
a  careful  study  of  the  trampled  mud  in  front  of  him.  "  Hul- 
lo!" said  he,  suddenly.  "What's  this?"  It  was  a  wax  vesta 
half  burned,  which  was  so  coated  with  mud  that  it  looked  at 
first  like  a  little  chip  of  wood. 

"  I  cannot  think  how  I  came  to  overlook  it,"  said  the  In- 
spector, with  an  expression  of  annoyance. 

"  It  was  invisible,  buried  in  the  mud.  I  only  saw  it  because 
I  was  looking  for  it." 

"  What !  you  expected  to  find  it  ?" 

"  I  thought  it  not  unlikely." 

He  took  the  boots  from  the  bag,  and  compared  the  impres- 
sions of  each  of  them  with  marks  upon  the  ground.  Then  he 
clambered  up  to  the  rim  of  the  hollow,  and  crawled  about 
among  the  ferns  and  bushes. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  there  are  no  more  tracks,"  said  the  In- 
spector. "  I  have  examined  the  ground  very  carefully  for  a 
hundred  yards  in  each  direction." 

"  Indeed !"  said  Holmes,  rising.  "  I  should  not  have  the 
impertinence  to  do  it  again  after  what  you  say.  But  I  should 
like  to  take  a  little  walk  over  the  moor  before  it  grows  dark, 


16  MEMOIRS  OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

that  I  may  know  my  ground  to-morrow,  and  I  think  that  1 
shall  put  this  horseshoe  into  my  pocket  for  luck." 

Colonel  Ross,  who  had  shown  some  signs  of  impatience  at 
my  companion's  quiet  and  systematic  method  of  work,  glanced 
at  his  watch.  "I  wish  you  would  come  back  with  me,  In- 
spector," said  he.  "  There  are  several  points  on  which  I 
should  like  your  advice,  and  especially  as  to  whether  we  do 
not  owe  it  to  the  public  to  remove  our  horse's  name  from  the 
entries  for  the  Cup." 

"Certainly  not,"  cried  Holmes,  with  decision.  "  I  should 
let  the  name  stand." 

The  Colonel  bowed.  "  I  am  very  glad  to  have  had  your 
opinion,  sir,"  said  he.  "  You  will  find  us  at  poor  Straker's 
house  when  you  have  finished  your  walk,  and  we  can  drive 
together  into  Tavistock." 

He  turned  back  with  the  Inspector,  while  Holmes  and  I 
walked  slowly  across  the  moor.  The  sun  was  beginning  to 
sink  behind  the  stable  of  Mapleton,  and  the  long,  sloping 
plain  in  front  of  us  was  tinged  with  gold,  deepening  into  rich, 
ruddy  browns  where  the  faded  ferns  and  brambles  caught  the 
evening  light.  But  the  glories  of  the  landscape  were  all  wasted 
upon  my  companion,  who  was  sunk  in  the  deepest  thought. 

"It's  this  way,  Watson,"  said  he  at  last.  "We  may  leave 
the  question  of  who  killed  John  Straker  for  the  instant,  and 
confine  ourselves  to  finding  out  what  has  become  of  the  horse. 
Now,  supposing  that  he  broke  away  during  or  after  the  trag- 
edy, where  could  he  have  gone  to  ?  The  horse  is  a  very  gre- 
garious creature.  If  left  to  himself  his  instincts  would  have 
been  either  to  return  to  King's  Pyland  or  go  over  to  Mapleton. 
Why  should  he  run  wild  upon  the  moor  ?  He  would  surely  have 
been  seen  by  now.  And  why  should  gypsies  kidnap  him  ? 
These  people  always  clear  out  when  they  hear  of  trouble, 
for  they  do  not  wish  to  be  pestered  by  the  police.  They 
could  not  hope  to  sell  such  a  horse.  They  would  run  a  great 
risk  and  gain  nothing  by  taking  him.  Surely  that  is  clear." 

"Where  is  he,  then?" 


SILVER   BLAZE  If 

"  I  have  already  said  that  he  must  have  gone  to  King's  Py 
land  or  to  Mapleton.  He  is  not  at  King's  Pyland.  There- 
fore he  is  at  Mapleton.  Let  us  take  that  as  a  working  hypoth- 
esis and  see  what  it  leads  us  to.  This  part  of  the  moor,  as 
the  Inspector  remarked,  is  very  hard  and  dry.  But  it  falls 
away  towards  Mapleton,  and  you  can  see  from  here  that  there 
is  a  long  hollow  over  yonder,  which  must  have  been  very  wet 
on  Monday  night.  If  our  supposition  is  correct,  then  the 
horse  must  have  crossed  that,  and  there  is  the  point  where 
we  should  look  for  his  tracks." 

We  had  been  walking  briskly  during  this  conversation,  and 
a  few  more  minutes  brought  us  to  the  hollow  in  question. 
At  Holmes's  request  I  walked  down  the  bank  to  the  right, 
and  he  to  the  left,  but  I  had  not  taken  fifty  paces  before  I 
heard  him  give  a  shout,  and  saw  him  waving  his  hand  to  me. 
The  track  of  a  horse  was  plainly  outlined  in  the  soft  earth  in 
front  of  him,  and  the  shoe  which  he  took  from  his  pocket 
exactly  fitted  the  impression. 

"  See  the  value  of  imagination,"  said  Holmes.  "  It  is  the 
one  quality  which  Gregory  lacks.  We  imagined  what  might 
have  happened,  acted  upon  the  supposition,  and  find  our- 
selves justified.  Let  us  proceed." 

We  crossed  the  marshy  bottom  and  passed  over  a  quarter 
ef  a  mile  of  dry,  hard  turf.  Again  the  ground  sloped,  and 
again  we  came  on  the  tracks.  Then  we  lost  them  for  half  a 
mile,  but  only  to  pick  them  up  once  more  quite  close  to  Ma- 
pleton. It  was  Holmes  who  saw  them  first,  and  he  stood 
pointing  with  a  look  of  triumph  upon  his  face.  A  man's 
track  was  visible  beside  the  horse's. 

"The  horse  was  alone  before,"  I  cried. 

"  Quite  so.     It  was  alone  before.     Hullo,  what  is  this  ?" 

The  double  track  turned  sharp  off  and  took  the  direction 
of  King's  Pyland.  Holmes  whistled,  and  we  both  followed 
along  after  it.  His  eyes  were  on  the  trail,  but  I  happened 
to  look  a  little  to  one  side,  and  saw  to  my  surprise  the  same 
tracks  coming  back  again  in  the  opposite  direction. 


1 8  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMBS 

"  One  for  you,  Watson,"  said  Holmes,  when  I  pointed  it 
out.  "  You  have  saved  us  a  long  walk,  which  would  have 
brought  us  back  on  our  own  traces.  Let  us  follow  the  return 
track." 

We  had  not  to  go  far.  It  ended  at  the  paving  of  asphalt 
which  led  up  to  the  gates  of  the  Mapleton  stables.  As  we 
approached,  a  groom  ran  out  from  them. 

"We  don't  want  any  loiterers  about  here,"  said  he. 

"  I  only  wished  to  ask  a  question,"  said  Holmes,  with  his 
ringer  and  thumb  in  his  waistcoat  pocket.  "  Should  I  be  too 
early  to  see  your  master,  Mr.  Silas  Brown,  if  I  were  to  call  at 
five  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  ?" 

"  Bless  you,  sir,  if  any  one  is  about  he  will  be,  for  he  is 
always  the  first  stirring.  But  here  he  is,  sir,  to  answer  your 
questions  for  himself.  No,  sir,  no ,  it  is  as  much  as  my  place 
is  worth  to  let  him  see  me  touch  your  money.  Afterwards, 
if  you  like." 

As  Sherlock  Holmes  replaced  the  half-crown  which  he  had 
drawn  from  his  pocket,  a  fierce-looking  elderly  man  strode 
out  from  the  gate  with  a  hunting-crop  swinging  in  his 
hand. 

"  What's  this,  Dawson  !"  he  cried.  "  No  gossiping !  Go 
about  your  business !  And  you,  what  the  devil  do  you  want 
here  ?" 

"  Ten  minutes'  talk  with  you,  my  good  sir,"  said  Holmes 
in  the  sweetest  of  voices. 

"I've  no  time  to  talk  to  every  gadabout.  We  want  no 
strangers  here.  Be  off,  or  you  may  find  a  dog  at  your  heels." 

Holmes  leaned  forward  and  whispered  something  in  the 
trainer's  ear.  He  started  violently  and  flushed  to  the  tem- 
ples. 

"  It's  a  lie  !"  he  shouted ,  "  an  infernal  lie  !" 

"Very  good.  Shall  we  argue  about  it  here  in  public  or 
talk  it  over  in  your  parlor  ?" 

"  Oh,  come  in  if  you  wish  to." 

Holmes  smiled.     "  I  shall  not  keep  you  more  than  a  few 


SILVER    BLAZE  19 

minutes,  Watson,"  said  he.  "  Now,  Mr.  Brown,  I  am  quite  at 
your  disposal." 

It  was  twenty  minutes,  and  the  reds  had  all  faded  into 
grays  before  Holmes  and  the  trainer  reappeared.  Never 
have  I  seen  such  a  change  as  had  been  brought  about  in 
Silas  Brown  in  that  short  time.  His  face  was  ashy  pale, 
beads  of  perspiration  shone  upon  his  brow,  and  his  hands 
shook  until  the  hunting-crop  wagged  like  a  branch  in  the 
wind.  His  bullying,  overbearing  manner  was  all  gone  too, 
and  he  cringed  along  at  my  companion's  side  like  a  dog  with 
its  master. 

"  Your  instructions  will  be  done.  It  shall  all  be  done," 
said  he. 

"  There  must  be  no  mistake,"  said  Holmes,  looking  round 
at  him.  The  other  winced  as  he  read  the  menace  in  his  eyes. 

"Oh  no,  there  shall  be  no  mistake.  It  shall  be  there. 
Should  I  change  it  first  or  not?" 

Holmes  thought  a  little  and  then  burst  out  laughing.  "  No, 
don't,"  said  he;  "I  shall  write  to  you  about  it.  No  tricks, 
now,  or — " 

"  Oh,  you  can  trust  me,  you  can  trust  me !" 

"Yes,  I  think  I  can.  Well,  you  shall  hear  from  me  to- 
morrow." He  turned  upon  his  heel,  disregarding  the  trem- 
bling hand  which  the  other  held  out  to  him,  and  we  set  off 
for  King's  Pyland. 

"  A  more  perfect  compound  of  the  bully,  coward,  and  sneak 
than  Master  Silas  Brown  I  have  seldom  met  with,"  remarked 
Holmes  as  we  trudged  along  together. 

"  He  has  the  horse,  then  ?" 

"  He  tried  to  bluster  out  of  it,  but  I  described  to  him  so 
exactly  what  his  actions  had  been  upon  that  morning  that  he 
is  convinced  that  I  was  watching  him.  Of  course  you  ob' 
served  the  peculiarly  square  toes  in  the  impressions,  and  that 
his  own  boots  exactly  corresponded  to  them.  Again,  of  course 
no  subordinate  would  have  dared  to  do  such  a  thing.  I  de- 
scribed to  him  how,  when  according  to  his  custom  he  was  the 


20  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

first  down,  he  perceived  a  strange  horse  wandering  over  the 
moor.  How  he  went  out  to  it,  and  his  astonishment  at  recog- 
nizing, from  the  white  forehead  which  has  given  the  favorite 
its  name,  that  chance  had  put  in  his  power  the  only  horse 
which  could  beat  the  one  upon  which  he  had  put  his  money. 
Then  I  described  how  his  first  impulse  had  been  to  lead  him 
back  to  King's  Pyland,  and  how  the  devil  had  shown  him 
how  he  could  hide  the  horse  until  the  race  was  over,  and  how 
he  had  led  it  back  and  concealed  it  at  Mapleton.  When  I 
told  him  every  detail  he  gave  it  up  and  thought  only  of  saving 
his  own  skin." 

"  But  his  stables,  had  been  searched  ?" 

"  Oh,  an  old  horse-fakir  like  him  has  many  a  dodge." 

"But  are  you  not  afraid  to  leave  the  horse  in  his  power 
now,  since  he  has  every  interest  in  injuring  it  ?" 

"  My  dear  fellow,  he  will  guard  it  as  the  apple  of  his  eye. 
He  knows  that  his  only  hope  of  mercy  is  to  produce  it 
safe." 

"  Colonel  Ross  did  not  impress  me  as  a  man  who  would 
be  likely  to  show  much  mercy  in  any  case." 

"The  matter  does  not  rest  with  Colonel  Ross.  I  follow 
my  own  methods,  and  tell  as  much  or  as  little  as  I  choose. 
That  is  the  advantage  of  being  unofficial.  I  don't  know 
whether  you  observed  it,  Watson,  but  the  Colonel's  manner 
has  been  just  a  trifle  cavalier  to  me.  I  am  inclined  now  to 
have  a  little  amusement  at  his  expense.  Say  nothing  to  him 
about  the  horse." 

**  Certainly  not  without  your  permission." 

"  And  of  course  this  is  all  quite  a  minor  point  compared 
to  the  question  of  who  killed  John  Straker." 

"  And  you  will  devote  yourself  to  that  ?" 

"  On  the  contrary,  we  both  go  back  to  London  by  the  night 
train." 

I  was  thunderstruck  by  my  friend's  words.  We  had  only 
been  a  few  hours  in  Devonshire,  and  that  he  should  give  up 
an  investigation  which  he  had  begun  so  brilliantly  was  quite 


SILVER   BLAZE  21 

incomprehensible  to  me.  Not  a  word  more  could  I  draw 
from  him  until  we  were  back  at  the  trainer's  house.  The 
Colonel  and  the  Inspector  were  awaiting  us  in  the  parlor. 

"My  friend  and  I  return  to  town  by  the  night-express," 
said  Holmes.  "We  have  had  a  charming  little  breath  of 
your  beautiful  Dartmoor  air." 

The  Inspector  opened  his  eyes,  and  the  Colonel's  lip  curled 
in  a  sneer. 

"  So  you  despair  of  arresting  the  murderer  of  poor  Straker," 
said  he. 

Holmes  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  There  are  certainly  grave 
difficulties  in  the  way,"  said  he.  "  I  have  every  hope,  how- 
ever, that  your  horse  will  start  upon  Tuesday,  and  I  beg  that 
you  will  have  your  jockey  in  readiness.  Might  I  ask  for  a 
photograph  of  Mr.  John  Straker?" 

The  Inspector  took  one  from  an  envelope  and  handed  it  to 
him. 

"  My  dear  Gregory,  you  anticipate  all  my  wants.  If  I  might 
ask  you  to  wait  here  for  an  instant,  I  have  a  question  which 
I  should  like  to  put  to  the  maid." 

"  I  must  say  that  I  am  rather  disappointed  in  our  London 
consultant,"  said  Colonel  Ross,  bluntly,  as  my  friend  left  the 
room.  "  I  do  not  see  that  we  are  any  further  than  when  he 
came." 

"  At  least  you  have  his  assurance  that  your  horse  will  run," 
said  I. 

"  Yes,  I  have  his  assurance,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  a  shrug 
of  his  shoulders.  "  I  should  prefer  to  have  the  horse." 

I  was  about  to  make  some  reply  in  defence  of  my  friend 
when  he  entered  the  room  again. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  am  quite  ready  for  Tavis- 
tock." 

As  we  stepped  into  the  carriage  one  of  the  stable-lads  held 
the  door  open  for  us.  A  sudden  idea  seemed  to  occur  to 
Holmes,  for  he  leaned  forward  and  touched  the  lad  upon  the 
sleeve. 


22 

"  You  have  a  few  sheep  in  the  paddock,"  he  said.  "  Who 
attends  to  them  ?" 

"  I  do,  sir." 

"  Have  you  noticed  anything  amiss  with  them  of  late  ?" 

"Well,  sir,  not  of  much  account;  but  three  of  them  have 
gone  lame,  sir." 

I  could  see  that  Holmes  was  extremely  pleased,  for  he 
chuckled  and  rubbed  his  hands  together. 

"  A  long  shot,  Watson  ;  a  very  long  shot,"  said  he,  pinching 
my  arm.  "Gregory,  let  me  recommend  to  your  attention  this 
singular  epidemic  among  the  sheep.  Drive  on,  coachman !" 

Colonel  Ross  still  wore  an  expression  which  showed  the 
poor  opinion  which  he  had  formed  of  my  companion's  ability, 
but  I  saw  by  the  Inspector's  face  that  his  attention  had  been 
keenly  aroused. 

"You  consider  that  to  be  important ?"  he  asked. 

"  Exceedingly  so." 

"  Is  there  any  point  to  which  you  would  wish  to  draw  my 
attention  ?" 

"  To  the  curious  incident  of  the  dog  in  the  night-time." 

"  The  dog  did  nothing  in  the  night-time." 

"  That  was  the  curious  incident,"  remarked  Sherlock 
Holmes. 

Four  days  later  Holmes  and  I  were  again  in  the  train, 
bound  for  Winchester  to  see  the  race  for  the  Wessex  Cup. 
Colonel  Ross  met  us  by  appointment  outside  the  station,  and 
we  drove  in  his  drag  to  the  course  beyond  the  town.  His 
face  was  grave,  and  his  manner  was  cold  in  the  extreme. 

"  I  have  seen  nothing  of  my  horse,"  said  he. 

"  I  suppose  that  you  would  know  him  when  you  saw  him  ?" 
asked  Holmes. 

The  Colonel  was  very  angry.  "  I  have  been  on  the  turf  for 
twenty  years,  and  never  was  asked  such  a  question  as  that 
before,"  said  he.  "A  child  would  know  Silver  Blaze,  with 
his  white  forehead  and  his  mottled  off-foreleg." 


SILVER    BLAZE  23 

"  How  is  the  betting  ?" 

"  Well,  that  is  the  curious  part  of  it.  You  could  have  got 
fifteen  to  one  yesterday,  but  the  price  has  become  shorter 
and  shorter,  until  you  can  hardly  get  three  to  one  now." 

"  Hum !"  said  Holmes.  "  Somebody  knows  something, 
that  is  clear." 

As  the  drag  drew  up  in  the  enclosure  near  the  grand  stand 
I  glanced  at  the  card  to  see  the  entries. 

Wessex  Plate  [it  ran]  50  sovs  each  h  ft  with  1000  sovs  added  for  four 
and  five  year  olds.  Second,  ^300.  Third,  .£200.  New  course  (one  mile 
and  five  furlongs). 

1.  Mr.  Heath  Newton's  The  Negro.     Red  cap.     Cinnamon  jacket. 

2.  Colonel  Wardlaw's  Pugilist.     Pink  cap.     Blue  and  black  jacket. 

3.  Lord  Backwater's  Desborough.     Yellow  cap  and  sleeves. 

4.  Colonel  Ross's  Silver  Blaze.     Black  cap.     Red  jacket. 

5.  Duke  of  Balmoral's  Iris.     Yellow  and  black  stripes. 

6.  Lord  Singleford's  Rasper.     Purple  cap.     Black  sleeves. 

"  We  scratched  our  other  one,  and  put  all  hopes  on  your 
word,"  said  the  Colonel.  "  Why,  wh«tt  is  that  ?  Silver  Blaze 
favorite  ?" 

"  Five  to  four  against  Silver  Blaze !"  roared  the  ring. 
"  Five  to  four  against  Silver  Blaze  !  Five  to  fifteen  against 
Desborough !  Five  to  four  on  the  field  !" 

"  There  are  the  numbers  up,"  I  cried.  "  They  are  all  six 
there." 

"  All  six  there  ?  Then  my  horse  is  running,"  cried  the 
Colonel  in  great  agitation.  "  But  I  don't  see  him.  My  colors 
have  not  passed." 

"  Only  five  have  passed.     This  must  be  he." 

As  I  spoke  a  powerful  bay  horse  swept  out  from  the  weigh- 
ing enclosure  and  cantered  past  us,  bearing  on  its  back  the 
well-known  black  and  red  of  the  Colonel. 

"  That's  not  my  horse,"  cried  the  owner.  "  That  beast  has 
not  a  white  hair  upon  its  body.  What  is  this  that  you  have 
done,  Mr.  Holmes  ?" 

"  Well,  well,  let  us  see  how  he  gets  on,"  said  my  friend,  inv 


/4  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

perturbably.  For  a  few  minutes  he  gazed  through  my  field- 
glass.  "  Capital !  An  excellent  start !"  he  cried  suddenly. 
"  There  they  are,  coming  round  the  curve !" 

From  our  drag  we  had  a  superb  view  as  they  came  up  the 
straight  The  six  horses  were  so  close  together  that  a  carpet 
could  have  covered  them,  but  half  way  up  the  yellow  of  the 
Mapleton  stable  showed  to  the  front.  Before  they  reached 
us,  however,  Desborough's  bolt  was  shot,  and  the  Colonel's 
horse,  coming  away  with  a  rush,  passed  the  post  a  good  six 
lengths  before  its  rival,  the  Duke  of  Balmoral's  Iris  making  a 
bad  third. 

"  It's  my  race,  anyhow,"  gasped  the  Colonel,  passing  his 
hand  over  his  eyes.  "  I  confess  that  I  can  make  neither  head 
nor  tail  of  it.  Don't  you  think  that  you  have  kept  up  your 
mystery  long  enough,  Mr.  Holmes  ?" 

"  Certainly,  Colonel,  you  shall  know  everything.  Let  us  all 
go  round  and  have  a  look  at  the  horse  together.  Here  he  is," 
he  continued,  as  we  made  our  way  into  the  weighing  enclosure, 
where  only  owners  and  their  friends  find  admittance.  "  You 
have  only  to  wash  his  face  and  his  leg  in  spirits  of  wine,  and 
you  will  find  that  he  is  the  same  old  Silver  Blaze  as  ever." 

"  You  take  my  breath  away !" 

"  I  found  him  in  the  hands  of  a  fakir,  and  took  the  liberty 
of  running  him  just  as  he  was  sent  over." 

"  My  dear  sir,  you  have  done  wonders.  The  horse  looks 
very  fit  and  well.  It  never  went  better  in  its  life.  I  owe  you 
a  thousand  apologies  for  having  doubted  your  ability.  You 
have  done  me  a  great  service  by  recovering  my  horse. 
You  would  do  me  a  greater  still  if  you  could  lay  your  hands  on 
the  murderer  of  John  Straker." 

"  I  have  done  so,"  said  Holmes  quietly. 

The  Colonel  and  I  stared  at  him  in  amazement.  "Yo« 
have  got  him  !  Where  is  he,  then  ?" 

"  He  is  here." 

"  Here !    Where  ?" 

"  In  my  company  at  the  present  moment." 


SILVER   BLAZE  25 

The  Coionel  flushed  angrily.  "  I  quite  recognize  that  I  am 
under  obligations  to  you,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he,  "  but  I  must 
regard  what  you  have  just  said  as  either  a  very  bad  joke  or  an 
insult." 

Sherlock  Holmes  laughed.  "  I  assure  you  that  I  have  not 
associated  you  with  the  crime,  Colonel,"  said  he.  "  The  real 
murderer  is  standing  immediately  behind  you."  He  stepped 
past  and  laid  his  hand  upon  the  glossy  neck  of  the  thorough- 
bred. 

"  The  horse !"  cried  both  the  Colonel  and  myself. 

"  Yes,  the  horse.  And  it  may  lessen  his  guilt  if  I  say  that 
it  was  done  in  self-defence,  and  that  John  Straker  was  a  man 
who  was  entirely  unworthy  of  your  confidence.  But  there 
goes  the  bell,  and  as  I  stand  to  win  a  little  on  this  next  race, 
I  shall  defer  a  lengthy  explanation  until  a  more  fitting  time.' 

We  had  the  corner  of  a  Pullman  car  to  ourselves  that  even- 
ing as  we  whirled  back  to  London,  and  I  fancy  that  the  jour- 
ney was  a  short  one  to  Colonel  Ross  as  well  as  to  myself,  as 
we  listened  to  our  companion's  narrative  of  the  events  which 
had  occurred  at  the  Dartmoor  training-stables  upon  that  Mon- 
day night,  and  the  means  by  which  he  had  unravelled  them. 

"  I  confess,"  said  he,  "  that  any  theories  which  I  had  formed 
from  the  newspaper  reports  were  entirely  erroneous.  And  yet 
there  were  indications  there,  had  they  not  been  overlaid  by 
other  details  which  concealed  their  true  import.  I  went  to 
Devonshire  with  the  conviction  that  Fitzroy  Simpson  was 
the  true  culprit,  although,  of  course,  I  saw  that  the  evidence 
against  him  was  by  no  means  complete.  It  was  while  I  was 
in  the  carriage,  just  as  we  reached  the  trainer's  house,  that  the 
immense  significance  of  the  curried  mutton  occurred  to  me. 
You  may  remember  that  I  was  distrait,  and  remained  sitting 
after  you  had  all  alighted.  I  was  marvelling  in  my  own  finind 
how  I  could  possibly  have  overlooked  so  obvious  a  clue." 

"  I  confess,"  said  the  Colonel,  "  that  even  now  I  cannot  see 
kow  it  helps  us." 


26  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  It  was  the  first  link  in  my  chain  of  reasoning.  Powdered 
opium  is  by  no  means  tasteless.  The  flavor  is  not  disagree- 
able, but  it  is  perceptible.  Were  it  mixed  with  any  ordinary 
dish  the  eater  would  undoubtedly  detect  it,  and  would  prob- 
ably eat  no  more.  A  curry  was  exactly  the  medium  which 
would  disguise  this  taste.  By  no  possible  supposition  could 
this  stranger,  Fitzroy  Simpson,  have  caused  curry  to  be  served 
in  the  trainer's  family  that  night,  and  it  is  surely  too  monstrous 
a  coineidence  to  suppose  that  he  happened  to  come  along  with 
powdered  opium  upon  the  very  night  when  a  dish  happened  to 
be  served  which  would  disguise  the  flavor.  That  is  unthink- 
able. Therefore  Simpson  becomes  eliminated  from  the  case, 
and  our  attention  centres  upon  Straker  and  his  wife,  the  only 
two  people  who  could  have  chosen  curried  mutton  for  supper 
that  night.  The  opium  was  added  after  the  dish  was  set  aside 
for  the  stable-boy,  for  the  others  had  the  same  for  supper  with 
no  ill  effects.  Which  of  them,  then,  had  access  to  that  dish 
without  the  maid  seeing  them  ? 

"  Before  deciding  that  question  I  had  grasped  the  signif- 
icance of  the  silence  of  the  dog,  for  one  true  inference  invari- 
ably suggests  others.  The  Simpson  incident  had  shown  me 
that  a  dog  was  kept  in  the  stables,  and  yet,  though  some  one 
had  been  in  and  had  fetched  out  a  horse,  he  had  not  barked 
enough  to  arouse  the  two  lads  in  the  loft.  Obviously  the  mid- 
night visitor  was  some  one  whom  the  dog  knew  well. 

"  I  was  already  convinced,  or  almost  convinced,  that  John 
Straker  went  down  to  the  stables  in  the  dead  of  the  night  and 
took  out  Silver  Blaze.  For  what  purpose  ?  For  a  dishonest 
one,  obviously,  or  why  should  he  drug  his  own  stable-boy? 
And  yet  I  was  at  a  loss  to  know  why.  There  have  been  cases 
before  now  where  trainers  have  made  sure  of  great  sums  of 
money  by  laying  against  their  own  horses,  through  agents,  and 
then  preventing  them  from  winning  by  fraud.  Sometimes  it  is 
a  pulling  jockey.  Sometimes  it  is  some  surer  and  subtler 
means.  What  was  it  here  ?  I  hoped  that  the  contents  of  his 
pockets  might  help  me  to  form  a  conclusion. 


SILVER   BLAZE  2J 

"  And  they  did  so.  You  cannot  have  forgotten  the  singular 
knife  which  was  found  in  the  dead  man's  hand,  a  knife  which 
certainly  no  sane  man  would  choose  for  a  weapon.  It  was,  as 
Dr.  Watson  told  us,  a  form  of  knife  which  is  used  for  the  most 
delicate  operations  known  in  surgery.  And  it  was  to  be  used 
for  a  delicate  operation  that  night.  You  must  know,  with  your 
wide  experience  of  turf  matters,  Colonel  Ross,  that  it  is  possi- 
ble to  make  a  slight  nick  upon  the  tendons  of  a  horse's  ham, 
and  to  do  it  subcutaneously,  so  as  to  leave  absolutely  no  trace. 
A  horse  so  treated  would  develop  a  slight  lameness,  which 
would  be  put  down  to  a  strain  in  exercise  or  a  touch  of  rheu- 
matism, but  never  to  foul  play." 

"  Villain  !     Scoundrel !"  cried  the  Colonel. 

"  We  have  here  the  explanation  of  why  John  Straker  wished 
to  take  the  horse  out  on  to  the  moor.  So  spirited  a  creature 
would  have  certainly  roused  the  soundest  of  sleepers  when  it 
felt  the  prick  of  the  knife.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  do 
it  in  the  open  air." 

"  I  have  been  blind  !"  cried  the  Colonel.  "  Of  course  that 
was  why  he  needed  the  candle,  and  struck  the  match." 

"  Undoubtedly.  But  in  examining  his  belongings  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  discover  not  only  the  method  of  the 
crime,  but  even  its  motives.  As  a  man  of  the  world,  Colonel, 
you  know  that  men  do  not  carry  other  people's  bills  about  in 
their  pockets.  Wre  have  most  of  us  quite  enough  to  do  to 
settle  our  own.  I  at  once  concluded  that  Straker  was  lead- 
ing a  double  life,  and  keeping  a  second  establishment.  The 
nature  of  the  bill  showed  that  there  was  a  lady  in  the  case, 
and  one  who  had  expensive  tastes.  Liberal  as  you  are  with 
your  servants,  one  can  hardly  expect  that  they  can  buy  twenty- 
guinea  walking  dresses  for  their  ladies.  I  questioned  Mrs. 
Straker  as  to  the  dress  without  her  knowing  it,  and  having 
satisfied  myself  that  it  had  never  reached  her,  I  made  a  note 
of  the  milliner's  address,  and  felt  that  by  calling  there  with 
Straker's  photograph  I  could  easily  dispose  of  the  mythical 
Derbyshire. 


2g  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  From  that  time  on  all  was  plain.  Straker  had  led  out  the 
horse  to  a  hollow  where  his  light  would  be  invisible.  Simp, 
son  in  his  flight  had  dropped  his  cravat,  and  Straker  had 
picked  it  up — with  some  idea,  perhaps,  that  he  might  use  it  in 
securing  the  horse's  leg.  Once  in  the  hollow,  he  had  got  be- 
hind the  horse  and  had  struck  a  light ;  but  the  creature,  fright- 
ened at  the  sudden  glare,  and  with  the  strange  instinct  of 
animals  feeling  that  some  mischief  was  intended,  had  lashed 
out,  and  the  steel  shoe  had  struck  Straker  full  on  the  fore- 
head. He  had  already,  in  spite  of  the  rain,  taken  off  his 
overcoat  in  order  to  do  his  delicate  task,  and  so,  as  he  fell, 
his  knife  gashed  his  thigh.  Do  I  make  it  clear  ?" 

"Wonderful!"  cried  the  Colonel  "Wonderful!  You 
might  have  been  there !" 

"  My  final  shot  was,  I  confess,  a  very  long  one.  It  struck 
me  that  so  astute  a  man  as  Straker  would  not  undertake  this 
delicate  tendon-nicking  without  a  little  practice.  What  could 
he  practise  on  ?  My  eyes  fell  upon  the  sheep,  and  I  asked  a 
question  which,  rather  to  my  surprise,  showed  that  my  sur- 
mise was  correct. 

"  When  I  returned  to  London  I  called  upon  the  milliner, 
who  had  recognized  Straker  as  an  excellent  customer  of  the 
name  of  Derbyshire,  who  had  a  very  dashing  wife,  with  a 
strong  partiality  for  expensive  dresses.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
this  woman  had  plunged  him  over  head  and  ears  in  debt,  and 
so  led  him  into  this  miserable  plot." 

"  You  have  explained  all  but  one  thing,"  cried  the  Colonel. 
"  Where  was  the  horse  ?" 

"  Ah,  it  bolted,  and  was  cared  for  by  one  of  your  neighbors. 
We  must  have  an  amnesty  in  that  direction,  I  think.  This  is 
Clapham  Junction,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  and  we  shall  be  in 
Victoria  in  less  than  ten  minutes.  If  you  care  to  smoke  a 
cigar  in  our  rooms,  Colonel,  I  shall  be  happy  to  give  you  any 
other  details  which  might  interest  you." 


Btoenture 

THE  YELLOW  FACE 

[In  publishing  these  short  sketches  based  upon  the  numerous  cases  in 
which  my  companion's  singular  gifts  have  made  us  the  listeners  to,  and 
eventually  the  actors  in,  some  strange  drama,  it  is  only  natural  that  I  should 
dwell  rather  upon  his  successes  than  upon  his  failures.  And  this  not  so 
much  for  the  sake  of  his  reputation — for,  indeed,  it  was  when  he  was  at  his 
wits'  end  that  his  energy  and  his  versatility  were  most  admirable — but  be- 
cause where  he  failed  it  happened  too  often  that  no  one  else  succeeded, 
and  that  the  tale  was  left  forever  without  a  conclusion.  Now  and  again, 
however,  it  chanced  that  even  when  he  erred,  the  truth  was  still  discovered. 
I  have  noted  of  some  half-dozen  cases  of  the  kind  the  Adventure  of  the 
Musgrave  Ritual  and  that  which  I  am  about  to  recount  are  the  two  which 
present  the  strongest  features  of  interest.] 

[HERLOCK  HOLMES  was  a  man  who  seldom 
took  exercise  for  exercise's  sake.  Few  men 
were  capable  of  greater  muscular  effort,  and  he 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  finest  boxers  of  his 
weight  that  I  have  ever  seen ;  but  he  looked 
upon  aimless  bodily  exertion  as  a  waste  of  energy,  and  he 
seldom  bestirred  himself  save  where  there  was  some  profes- 
sional object  to  be  served.  Then  he  was  absolutely  untiring 
and  indefatigable.  That  he  should  have  kept  himself  in  train- 
ing under  such  circumstances  is  remarkable,  but  his  diet  was 
usually  of  the  sparest,  and  his  habits  were  simple  to  the  verge 
of  austerity.  Save  for  the  occasional  use  of  cocaine,  he  had 
no  vices,  and  he  only  turned  to  the  drug  as  a  protest  against 
the  monotony  of  existence  when  cases  were  scanty  and  the 
papers  uninteresting. 

One  day  in  early  spring  he  had  so  far  relaxed  as  to  go  for  a 
walk  with  me  in  the  Park,  where  the  first  faint  shoots  of  green 
were  breaking  out  upon  the  elms,  and  the  sticky  spear-heads 


30  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK 

ef  the  chestnuts  were  just  beginning  to  burst  into  their  five- 
fold leaves.  For  two  hours  we  rambled  about  together,  in 
silence  for  the  most  part,  as  befits  two  men  who  know  each 
other  intimately.  It  was  nearly  five  before  we  were  back  in 
Baker  Street  once  more. 

"  Beg  pardon,  sir,"  said  our  page-boy,  as  he  opened  the 
door.  "There's  been  a  gentleman  here  asking  for  you,  sir." 

Holmes  glanced  reproachfully  at  me.  "  So  much  for  after 
noon  walks  !"  said  he.  "  Has  this  gentleman  gone,  then  f" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Didn't  you  ask  him  in  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  he  came  in." 

"  How  long  did  he  wait  ?" 

"  Half  an  hour,  sir.  He  was  a  very  restless  gentleman,  sir, 
a-walkin'  and  a-stampin'  all  the  time  he  was  here.  I  was 
waitin'  outside  the  door,  sir,  and  I  could  hear  him.  At  last 
he  out  into  the  passage,  and  he  cries, '  Is  that  man  never  goin' 
to  come  ?'  Those  were  his  very  words,  sir.  '  You'll  only  need 
to  wait  a  little  longer,'  says  I.  '  Then  I'll  wait  in  the  open 
air,  for  I  feel  half  choked,'  says  he.  'I'll  be  back  before 
long.'  And  with  that  he  ups  and  he  outs,  and  all  I  could  say 
wouldn't  hold  him  back." 

"  Well,  well,  you  did  your  best,"  said  Holmes,  as  we  walked 
into  our  room.  "  It's  very  annoying,  though,  Watson.  I  was 
badly  in  need  of  a  case,  and  this  looks,  from  the  man's  impa- 
tience, as  if  it  were  of  importance.  Hullo !  that's  not  your 
pipe  on  the  table.  He  must  have  left  his  behind  him.  A 
nice  old  brier  with  a  good  long  stem  of  what  the  tobacconists 
call  amber.  I  wonder  how  many  real  amber  mouthpieces 
there  are  in  London  ?  Some  people  think  that  a  fly  in  it  is  a 
sign.  Well,  he  must  have  been  disturbed  in  his  mind  to  leave 
a  pipe  behind  him  which  he  evidently  values  highly." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  he  values  it  highly?"  I  asked. 

"  Well,  I  should  put  the  original  cost  of  the  pipe  at  seven 
and  sixpence.  Now  it  has,  you  see,  been  twice  mended,  once 
in  the  wooden  stem  and  once  in  the  amber.  Each  of  these 


THE  YELLOW  FACE  3! 

mends,  done,  as  you  observe,  with  silver  bands,  must  have  cost 
more  than  the  pipe  did  originally.  The  man  must  value  the 
pipe  highly  when  he  prefers  to  patch  it  up  rather  than  buy  a 
new  one  with  the  same  money." 

"  Anything  else  ?"  I  asked,  for  Holmes  was  turning  the  pipe 
about  in  his  hand,  and  staring  at  it  in  his  peculiar  pensive  way. 

He  held  it  up  and  tapped  on  it  with  his  long,  thin  fore- 
finger, as  a  professor  might  who  was  lecturing  on  a  bone. 

"  Pipes  are  occasionally  of  extraordinary  interest,"  said  he. 
"  Nothing  has  more  individuality,  save  perhaps  watches  and 
bootlaces.  The  indications  here,  however,  are  neither  very 
marked  nor  very  important.  The  owner  is  obviously  a  mus- 
cular man,  left-handed,  with  an  excellent  set  of  teeth,  careless 
in  his  habits,  and  with  no  need  to  practise  economy." 

My  friend  threw  out  the  information  in  a  very  off-hand  way, 
but  I  saw  that  he  cocked  his  eye  at  me  to  see  if  I  had  followed 
his  reasoning. 

"  You  think  a  man  must  be  well-to-do  if  he  smokes  a  seven- 
shilling  pipe,"  said  I. 

"This  is  Grosvenor  mixture  at  eightpence  an  ounce," 
Holmes  answered,  knocking  a  little  out  on  his  palm.  "  As 
he  might  get  an  excellent  smoke  for  half  the  price,  he  has  no 
need  to  practise  economy." 

"  And  the  other  points  ?" 

"  He  has  been  in  the  habit  of  lighting  his  pipe  at  lamps  and 
gas-jets.  You  can  see  that  it  is  quite  charred  all  down  one 
side.  Of  course  a  match  could  not  have  done  that.  Why 
should  a  man  hold  a  match  to  the  side  of  his  pipe  ?  But  you 
cannot  light  it  at  a  lamp  without  getting  the  bowl  charred. 
And  it  is  all  on  the  right  side  of  the  pipe.  From  that  I  gather 
that  he  is  a  left-handed  man.  You  hold  your  own  pipe  to  the 
lamp,  and  see  how  naturally  you,  being  right-handed,  hold  the 
left  side  to  the  flame.  You  might  do  it  once  the  other  way, 
but  not  as  a  constancy.  This  has  always  been  held  so.  Then 
he  has  bitten  through  his  amber.  It  takes  a  muscular,  ener- 
getic fellow,  and  one  with  a  good  set  of  teeth,  to  do  that.  But 


J2  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLM1SB 

if  I  am  not  mistaken  I  hear  him  upon  the  stair,  so  we  shall 
have  something  more  interesting  than  his  pipe  to  study." 

An  instant  later  our  door  opened,  and  a  tall  young  man  en- 
tered the  room.  He  was  well  but  quietly  dressed  in  a  dark- 
gray  suit,  and  carried  a  brown  wideawake  in  his  hand.  I 
should  have  put  him  at  about  thirty,  though  he  was  really 
some  years  older. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  he,  with  some  embarrassment ; 
"  I  suppose  I  should  have  knocked.  Yes,  of  course  I  should 
have  knocked.  The  fact  is  that  I  am  a  little  upset,  and  you 
must  put  it  all  down  to  that."  He  passed  his  hand  over  his 
forehead  like  a  man  who  is  half  dazed,  and  then  fell  rather 
than  sat  down  upon  a  chair. 

"  I  can  see  that  you  have  not  slept  for  a  night  or  two,"  said 
Holmes,  in  his  easy,  genial  way.  "  That  tries  a  man's  nerves 
more  than  work,  and  more  even  than  pleasure.  May  I  ask 
how  I  can  help  you  ?" 

"  I  wanted  your  advice,  sir.  I  don't  know  what  to  do,  and 
my  whole  life  seems  to  have  gone  to  pieces." 

"  You  wish  to  employ  me  as  a  consulting  detective  ?" 

"  Not  that  only.  I  want  your  opinion  as  a  judicious  man — 
as  a  man  of  the  world.  I  want  to  know  what  I  ought  to  do 
next.  I  hope  to  God  you'll  be  able  to  tell  me." 

He  spoke  in  little,  sharp,  jerky  outbursts,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  to  speak  at  all  was  very  painful  to  him,  and  that  his 
will  all  through  was  overriding  his  inclinations. 

"  It's  a  very  delicate  thing,"  said  he.  "  One  does  not  like 
to  speak  of  one's  domestic  affairs  to  strangers.  It  seems 
dreadful  to  discuss  the  conduct  of  one's  wife  with  two  men 
whom  I  have  never  seen  before.  It's  horrible  to  have  to  do 
it.  But  I've  got  to  the  end  of  my  tether,  and  I  must  have  ad- 
vice." 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Grant  Munro — "  began  Holmes 

Our  visitor  sprang  from  his  chair.  "  What !"  he  cried,  "  you 
know  my  name  ?" 

"  If  you  wish  to  preserve  your  incognito,"  said  Holmes, 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  33 

smiling,  "  I  would  suggest  that  you  cease  to  write  your  name 
upon  the  lining  of  your  hat,  or  else  that  you  turn  the  crown 
towards  the  person  whom  you  are  addressing.  I  was  about  to 
say  that  my  friend  and  I  have  listened  to  a  good  many  strange 
secrets  in  this  room,  and  that  we  have  had  the  good-fortune  to 
bring  peace  to  many  troubled  souls.  I  trust  that  we  may  do 
as  much  for  you.  Might  I  beg  you,  as  time  may  prove  to  be 
of  importance,  to  furnish  me  with  the  facts  of  your  case  with- 
out further  delay  ?" 

Our  visitor  again  passed  his  hand  over  his  forehead,  as  if 
he  found  it  bitterly  hard.  From  every  gesture  and  expression 
I  could  see  that  he  was  a  reserved,  self-contained  man,  with  a 
dash  of  pride  in  his  nature,  more  likely  to  hide  his  wounds 
than  to  expose  them.  Then  suddenly,  with  a  fierce  gesture  of 
his  closed  hand,  like  one  who  throws  reserve  to  the  winds,  he 
began. 

"  The  facts  are  these,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he.  "  I  am  a  mar- 
ried man,  and  have  been  so  for  three  years.  During  that  time 
my  wife  and  I  have  loved  each  other  as  fondly  and  lived  as 
happily  as  any  two  that  ever  were  joined.  We  have  not  had 
a  difference,  not  one,  in  thought  or  word  or  deed.  And  now, 
since  last  Monday,  there  has  suddenly  sprung  up  a  barrier 
between  us,  and  I  find  that  there  is  something  in  her  life  and 
in  her  thoughts  of  which  I  know  as  little  as  if  she  were  the 
woman  who  brushes  by  me  in  the  street.  We  are  estranged, 
and  I  want  to  know  why. 

"  Now  there  is  one  thing  that  I  want  to  impress  upon  you 
before  I  go  any  further,  Mr.  Holmes.  Effie  loves  me.  Don't 
let  there  be  any  mistake  about  that.  She  loves  me  with  her 
whole  heart  and  soul,  and  never  more  than  now.  I  know  it. 
I  feel  it.  I  don't  want  to  argue  about  that.  A  man  can  tell 
easily  enough  when  a  woman  loves  him.  But  there's  this 
secret  between  us,  and  we  can  never  be  the  same  until  it  is 
cleared." 

"  Kindly  let  me  have  the  facts,  Mr.  Munro,"  said  Holmes, 
with  some  impatience. 


34  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I  know  about  Effie's  history.  She  was  a 
widow  when  I  met  her  first,  though  quite  young — only  twenty- 
five.  Her  name  then  was  Mrs.  Hebron.  She  went  out  to 
America  when  she  was  young,  and  lived  in  the  town  of  At- 
lanta, where  she  married  this  Hebron,  who  was  a  lawyer  with 
a  good  practice.  They  had  one  child,  but  the  yellow  fever 
broke  out  badly  in  the  place,  and  both  husband  and  child  died 
of  it.  I  have  seen  his  death  certificate.  This  sickened  her  of 
America,  and  she  came  back  to  live  with  a  maiden  aunt  at 
Pinner,  in  Middlesex.  I  may  mention  that  her  husband  had 
left  her  comfortably  off,  and  that  she  had  a  capital  of  about 
four  thousand  five  hundred  pounds,  which  had  been  so  well 
invested  by  him  that  it  returned  an  average  of  seven  per  cent. 
She  had  only  been  six  months  at  Pinner  when  I  met  her ;  we 
fell  in  love  with  each  other,  and  we  married  a  few  weeks  after- 
wards. 

"  I  am  a  hop  merchant  myself,  and  as  I  have  an  income  of 
seven  or  eight  hundred,  we  found  ourselves  comfortably  off, 
and  took  a  nice  eighty-pound-a-year  villa  at  Norbury.  Our 
little  place  was  very  countrified,  considering  that  it  is  so  close 
to  town.  We  had  an  inn  and  two  houses  a  little  above  us, 
and  a  single  cottage  at  the  other  side  of  the  field  which  faces 
us,  and  except  those  there  were  no  houses  until  you  got  half 
way  to  the  station.  My  business  took  me  into  town  at  cer- 
tain seasons,  but  in  summer  I  had  less  to  do,  and  then  in  our 
country  home  my  wife  and  I  were  just  as  happy  as  could  be 
wished.  I  tell  you  that  there  never  was  a  shadow  between  us 
until  this  accursed  affair  began. 

"  There's  one  thing  I  ought  to  tell  you  before  I  go  further. 
When  we  married,  my  wife  made  over  all  her  property  to  me 
— rather  against  my  will,  for  I  saw  how  awkward  it  would  be 
if  my  business  affairs  went  wrong.  However,  she  would  have 
it  so,  and  it  was  done.  Well,  about  six  weeks  ago  she  came 
to  me. 

"  '  Jack,'  said  she,  '  when  you  took  my  money  you  said  thai- 
if  ever  I  wanted  any  I  was  to  ask  you  for  it.' 


'  PIPES  ARE 


OCCASIONALLY  OF  EXTRAORDINARY  INTEREST,'  SAID  HE." 


THE  YELLOW   FACE  35 

" '  Certainly,'  said  I.     '  It's  all  your  own.' 

" '  Well,'  said  she,  '  I  want  a  hundred  pounds.' 

"I  was  a  bit  staggered  at  this,  for  I  had  imagined  it  was 
simply  a  ne™/  dress  or  something  of  the  kind  that  she  was 
after. 

" '  What  on  earth  for  ?'  I  asked. 

" '  Oh,'  said  she,  in  her  playful  way,  '  you  said  that  you 
were  only  my  banker,  and  bankers  never  ask  questions,  you 
know.' 

" '  If  you  really  mean  it,  of  course  you  shall  have  the 
money,'  said  I. 

"  '  Oh,  yes,  I  really  mean  it.' 

" '  And  you  won't  tell  me  what  you  want  it  for  ?' 

"  '  Some  day,  perhaps,  but  not  just  at  present,  Jack.' 
,  "  So  I  had  to  be  content  with  that,  though  it  was  the  first 
time  that  there  had  ever  been  any  secret  between  us.  I  gave 
her  a  check,  and  I  never  thought  any  more  of  the  matter.  It 
may  have  nothing  to  do  with  what  came  afterwards,  but  I 
thought  it  only  right  to  mention  it. 

"  Well,  I  told  you  just  now  that  there  is  a  cottage  not  far 
from  our  house.  There  is  just  a  field  between  us,  but  to  reach 
it  you  have  to  go  along  the  road  and  then  turn  down  a  lane. 
Just  beyond  it  is  a  nice  little  grove  of  Scotch  firs,  and  I  used 
to  be  very  fond  of  strolling  down  there,  for  trees  are  always  a 
neighborly  kind  of  things.  The  cottage  had  been  standing 
empty  this  eight  months,  and  it  was  a  pity,  for  it  was  a  pretty 
two-storied  place,  with  an  old-fashioned  porch  and  honey- 
suckle about  it.  I  have  stood  many  a  time  and  thought  what 
a  neat  little  homestead  it  would  make. 

"  Well,  last  Monday  evening  I  was  taking  a  stroll  down  that 
way,  when  I  met  an  empty  van  coming  up  the  lane,  and  saw  a 
pile  of  carpets  and  things  lying  about  on  the  grass-plot  beside 
the  porch.  It  was  clear  that  the  cottage  had  at  last  been  let. 
I  walked  past  it,  and  then  stopping,  as  an  idle  man  might,  I 
ran  my  eye  over  it,  and  wondered  what  sort  of  folk  they  were 
who  had  come  to  live  so  near  us.  And  as  I  looked  I  suddenly 


J6  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

became  aware  that  a  face  was  watching  me  out  of  one  of  the 
upper  windows. 

"  I  don't  know  what  there  was  about  that  face,  Mr.  Holmes, 
but  it  seemed  to  send  a  chill  right  down  my  back.  I  was  some 
little  way  off,  so  that  I  could  not  make  out  the  features,  but 
there  was  something  unnatural  and  inhuman  about  the  face. 
That  was  the  impression  that  I  had,  and  I  moved  quickly  for- 
wards to  get  a  nearer  view  of  the  person  who  was  watching 
me.  But  as  I  did  so  the  face  suddenly  disappeared,  so  suddenly 
that  it  seemed  to  have  been  plucked  away  into  the  darkness  of 
the  room.  I  stood  for  five  minutes  thinking  the  business  over, 
and  trying  to  analyze  my  impressions.  I  could  not  tell  if  the 
face  were  that  of  a  man  or  a  woman.  It  had  been  too  far 
from  me  for  that.  But  its  color  wa*  what  had  impressed  me 
most.  It  was  of  a  livid  chalky  white,  and  with  something  set 
and  rigid  about  it  which  was  shockingly  unnatural.  So  dis- 
turbed was  I  that  I  determined  to  see  a  little  more  of  the  new 
inmates  of  the  cottage.  I  approached  and  knocked  at  the 
door,  which  was  instantly  opened  by  a  tall,  gaunt  woman  with 
a  harsh,  forbidding  face. 

"'What  may  you  be  wantin' ?'  she  asked,  in  a  Northern 
accent. 

" '  I  am  your  neighbor  over  yonder/  said  I,  nodding  tow- 
ards my  house.  '  I  see  that  you  have  only  just  moved  in,  so 
I  thought  that  if  I  could  be  of  any  help  to  you  in  any — ' 

" '  Ay,  we'll  just  ask  ye  when  we  want  ye,'  said  she,  and 
shut  the  door  in  my  face.  Annoyed  at  the  churlish  rebuff,  I 
turned  my  back  and  walked  home.  All  evening,  though  I 
tried  to  think  of  other  things,  my  mind  would  still  turn  to  the 
apparition  at  the  window  &nd  the  rudeness  of  the  woman.  I 
determined  to  say  nothing  about  the  former  to  my  wife,  for 
she  is  a  nervous,  highly  strung  woman,  and  I  had  no  wish  that 
she  should  share  the  unpleasant  impression  which  had  been 
produced  upon  myself.  I  remarked  to  her,  however,  before  I 
fell  asleep,  that  the  cottage  was  now  occupied,  to  which  she 
returned  no  reply. 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  37 

"  I  am  usually  an  extremely  sound  sleeper.  It  has  been  a 
standing  jest  in  the  family  that  nothing  could  ever  wake  me 
during  the  night.  And  yet  somehow  on  that  particular  night, 
whether  it  may  have  been  the  slight  excitement  produced  by 
my  little  adventure  or  not  I  know  not,  but  I  slept  much  more 
lightly  than  usual.  Half  in  my  dreams  I  was  dimly  conscious 
that  something  was  going  on  in  the  room,  and  gradually  be- 
came aware  that  my  wife  had  dressed  herself  and  was  slipping 
on  her  mantle  and  her  bonnet.  My  lips  were  parted  to  mur- 
mur out  some  sleepy  words  of  surprise  or  remonstrance  at  this 
untimely  preparation,  when  suddenly  my  half-opened  eyes  fell 
upon  her  face,  illuminated  by  the  candle-light,  and  astonish- 
ment held  me  dumb.  She  wore  an  expression  such  as  I  had 
never  seen  before — such  as  I  should  have  thought  her  incapa- 
ble of  assuming.  She  was  deadly  pale  and  breathing  fast, 
glancing  furtively  towards  the  bed  as  she  fastened  her  mantle, 
to  see  if  she  had  disturbed  me.  Then,  thinking  that  I  was 
still  asleep,  she  slipped  noiselessly  from  the  room,  and  an  in- 
stant later  I  heard  a  sharp  creaking  which  could  only  come 
from  the  hinges  of  the  front  door.  I  sat  up  in  bed  and  rapped 
my  knuckles  against  the  rail  to  make  certain  that  I  was  truly 
awake.  Then  I  took  my  watch  from  under  the  pillow.  It  was 
three  in  the  morning.  What  on  this  earth  could  my  wife  be 
doing  out  on  the  country  road  at  three  in  the  morning  ? 

"  I  had  sat  for  about  twenty  minutes  turning  the  thing  over 
in  my  mind  and  trying  to  find  some  possible  explanation. 
The  more  I  thought,  the  more  extraordinary  and  inexplicable 
did  it  appear.  I  was  still  puzzling  over  it  when  I  heard  the 
door  gently  close  again,  and  her  footsteps  coming  up  the 
Stairs. 

" '  Where  in  the  world  have  you  been,  Effie  ?'  I  asked  as  she 
entered. 

"  She  gave  a  violent  start  and  a  kind  of  gasping  cry  when  I 
spoke,  and  that  cry  and  start  troubled  me  more  than  all  the 
rest,  for  there  was  something  indescribably  guilty  about  them. 
My  wife  had  always  been  a  woman  of  a  frank,  open  nature, 


£b  MEMOIRS   OP  SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

and  it  gave  me  a  chill  to  see  her  slinking  into  her  own  room, 
and  crying  out  and  wincing  when  her  own  husband  spoke  to 
her. 

" '  You  awake,  Jack !'  she  cried,  with  a  nervous  laugh. 
'Why,  I  thought  that  nothing  could  awake  you.' 

" '  Where  have  you  been  ?'  I  asked,  more  sternly. 

" '  I  don't  wonder  that  you  are  surprised,'  said  she,  and  I 
could  see  that  her  ringers  were  trembling  as  she  undid  the 
fastenings  of  her  mantle.  '  Why,  I  never  remember  having 
done  such  a  thing  in  my  life  before.  The  fact  is  that  I  felt  as 
though  I  were  choking,  and  had  a  perfect  longing  for  a  breath 
of  fresh  air.  I  really  think  that  I  should  have  fainted  if  I  had 
not  gone  out  I  stood  at  the  door  for  a  few  minutes,  and  now 
I  am  quite  myself  again.' 

"  All  the  time  that  she  was  telling  me  this  story  she  never 
once  looked  in  my  direction,  and  her  voice  was  quite  unlike 
her  usual  tones.  It  was  evident  to  me  that  she  was  saying 
what  was  false.  I  said  nothing  in  reply,  but  turned  my  face 
to  the  wall,  sick  at  heart,  with  my  mind  filled  with  a  thousand 
venomous  doubts  and  suspicions.  What  was  it  that  my  wife 
was  concealing  from  me  ?  Where  had  she  been  during  that 
strange  expedition  ?  I  felt  that  I  should  have  no  peace  until 
I  knew,  and  yet  I  shrank  from  asking  her  again  after  once 
she  had  told  me  what  was  false.  All  the  rest  of  the  night  I 
tossed  and  tumbled,  framing  theory  after  theory,  each  more 
unlikely  than  the  last. 

"  I  should  have  gone  to  the  City  that  day,  but  I  was  too  dis- 
turbed in  my  mind  to  be  able  to  pay  attention  to  business 
matters.  My  wife  seemed  to  be  as  upset  as  myself,  and  I 
could  see  from  the  little  questioning  glances  which  she  kept 
shooting  at  me  that  she  understood  that  I  disbelieved  her 
statement,  and  that  she  was  at  her  wits'  end  what  to  do.  We 
hardly  exchanged  a  word  during  breakfast,  and  immediately 
afterwards  I  went  out  for  a  walk,  that  I  might  think  the  mat- 
ter out  in  the  fresh  morning  air, 

"  I  went  as  far  as  the  Crystal  Pa J are,  spent  an  hour  in  the 


THE   YELLOW    FACE  39 

grounds,  and  was  back  in  Norbury  by  one  o'clock.  It  hap- 
pened that  my  way  took  me  past  the  cottage,  and  I  stopped 
for  an  instant  to  look  at  the  windows,  and  to  see  if  I  could 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  strange  face  which  had  looked  out  at 
me  on  the  day  before.  As  I  stood  there,  imagine  my  sur- 
prise, Mr.  Holmes,  when  the  door  suddenly  opened  and  my 
wife  walked  out. 

"  I  was  struck  dumb  with  astonishment  at  the  sight  of  her ; 
but  my  emotions  were  nothing  to  those  which  showed  them- 
selves upon  her  face  when  our  eyes  met.  She  seemed  for  an 
instant  to  wish  to  shrink  back  inside  the  house  again ;  and 
then,  seeing  how  useless  all  concealment  must  be,  she  came 
forward,  with  a  very  white  face  and  frightened  eyes  which  be- 
lied the  smile  upon  her  lips. 

'"Ah,  Jack,'  she  said,  '  I  have  just  been  in  to  see  if  I  can 
be  of  any  assistance  to  our  new  neighbors.  Why  do  you  look 
at  me  like  that,  Jack  ?  You  are  not  angry  with  me  ?' 

"'So,'  said  I,  'this  is  where  you  went  during  the  night.' 

" '  What  do  you  mean  ?'  she  cried. 

"  '  You  came  here.  I  am  sure  of  it.  Who  are  these  people, 
that  you  should  visit  them  at  such  an  hour  ?' 

" '  I  have  not  been  here  before.' 

" '  How  can  you  tell  me  what  you  know  is  false  ?'  I  cried. 
'Your  very  voice  changes  as  you  speak.  When  have  I  ever 
had  a  secret  from  you  ?  I  shall  enter  that  cottage,  and  I  shall 
probe  the  matter  to  the  bottom.' 

" '  No,  no,  Jack,  for  God's  sake !'  she  gasped,  in  incontrol- 
lable  emotion.  Then,  as  I  approached  the  door,  she  seized 
my  sleeve  and  pulled  me  back  with  convulsive  strength. 

" '  I  implore  you  not  to  do  this,  Jack,'  she  cried.  '  I  swear 
that  I  will  tell  you  everything  some  day,  but  nothing  but  mis- 
ery can  come  of  it  if  you  enter  that  cottage.'  Then,  as  I  tried 
to  shake  her  off,  she  clung  to  me  in  a  frenzy  of  entreaty. 

" '  Trust  me,  Jack  !'  she  cried.  '  Trust  me  only  this  once. 
You  will  never  have  cause  to  regret  it.  You  know  that  I 
would  not  have  a  secret  from  you  if  it  were  not  for  your  own 


40  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

sake.  Our  whole  lives  are  at  stake  in  this.  If  you  come 
home  with  me,  all  will  be  well.  If  you  force  your  way  into 
that  cottage,  all  is  over  between  us.' 

"  There  was  such  earnestness,  such  despair,  in  her  manner 
that  her  words  arrested  me,  and  I  stood  irresolute  before  the 
door. 

" '  I  will  trust  you  on  one  condition,  and  on  one  condition 
only,'  said  I  at  last.  '  It  is  that  this  mystery  conies  to  an  end 
from  now.  You  are  at  liberty  to  preserve  your  secret,  but  you 
must  promise  me  that  there  shall  be  no  more  nightly  visits, 
no  more  doings  which  are  kept  from  my  knowledge.  I  am 
willing  to  forget  those  which  are  passed  if  you  will  promise 
that  there  shall  be  no  more  in  the  future.' 

" '  I  was  sure  that  you  would  trust  me,'  she  cried,  with  a 
great  sigh  of  relief.  '  It  shall  be  just  as  you  wish.  Come 
away — oh,  come  away  up  to  the  house.' 

"  Still  pulling  at  my  sleeve,  she  led  me  away  from  the  cot- 
tage. As  we  went  I  glanced  back,  and  there  was  that  yellow 
livid  face  watching  us  out  of  the  upper  window.  What  link 
could  there  be  between  that  creature  and  my  wife  ?  Or  how 
could  the  coarse,  rough  woman  whom  I  had  seen  the  day  be- 
fore be  connected  with  her  ?  It  was  a  strange  puzzle,  and  yet 
I  knew  that  my -mind  could  never  know  ease  again  until  I  had 
solved  it. 

"  For  two  days  after  this  I  stayed  at  home,  and  my  wife  ap- 
peared to  abide  loyally  by  our  engagement,  for,  as  far  as  I 
know,  she  never  stirred  out  of  the  house.  On  the  third  day, 
however,  I  had  ample  evidence  that  her  solemn  promise  was 
not  enough  to  hold  her  back  from  this  secret  influence  which 
drew  her  away  from  her  husband  and  her  duty. 

"  I  had  gone  into  town  on  that  day,  but  I  returned  by  the 
2.40  instead  of  the  3.36,  which  is  my  usual  train.  As  I  en- 
tered the  house  the  maid  ran  into  the  hall  with  a  startled 
face. 

"  '  Where  is  your  mistress  ?'  I  asked. 

" '  I  think  that  she  has  gone  out  for  a  walk,'  she  answered. 


THE  YELLOW   FACE  4! 

"My  mind  was  instantly  filled  with  suspicion.  I  rushed 
upstairs  to  make  sure  that  she  was  not  in  the  house.  As  I 
did  so  I  happened  to  glance  out  of  one  of  the  upper  windows, 
and  saw  the  maid  with  whom  I  had  just  been  speaking  run- 
ning across  the  field  in  the  direction  of  the  cottage.  Then  of 
course  I  saw  exactly  what  it  all  meant.  My  wife  had  gone 
over  there,  and  had  asked  the  servant  to  call  her  if  I  should 
return.  Tingling  with  anger,  I  rushed  down  and  hurried 
across,  determined  to  end  the  matter  once  and  forever.  I 
saw  my  wife  and  the  maid  hurrying  back  along  the  lane,  but  I 
did  not  stop  to  speak  with  them.  In  the  cottage  lay  the  secret 
which  was  casting  a  shadow  over  my  life.  I  vowed  that,  come 
what  might,  it  should  be  a  secret  no  longer.  I  did  not  even 
knock  when  I  reached  it,  but  turned  the  handle  and  rushed 
into  the  passage. 

"  It  was  all  still  and  quiet  upon  the  ground  floor.  In  the 
kitchen  a  kettle  was  singing  on  the  fire,  and  a  large  black  cat 
lay  coiled  up  in  the  basket;  but  there  was  no  sign  of  the 
woman  whom  I  had  seen  before.  I  ran  into  the  other  room, 
but  it  was  equally  deserted.  Then  I  rushed  up  the  stairs,  only 
to  find  two  other  rooms  empty  and  deserted  at  the  top.  There 
was  no  one  at  all  in  the  whole  house.  The  furniture  and  pict- 
ures were  of  the  most  common  and  vulgar  description,  save  in 
the  one  chamber  at  the  window  of  which  I  had  seen  the  strange 
face.  That  was  comfortable  and  elegant,  and  all  my  suspi- 
cions rose  into  a  fierce,  bitter  flame  when  I  saw  that  on  the 
mantelpiece  stood  a  copy  of  a  full-length  photograph  of  my 
wife,  which  had  been  taken  at  my  request  only  three  months 
ago. 

"  I  stayed  long  enough  to  make  certain  that  the  house  was 
absolutely  empty.  Then  I  left  it,  feeling  a  weight  at  my  heart 
such  as  I  had  never  had  before.  My  wife  came  out  into  the 
hall  as  I  entered  my  house ;  but  I  was  too  hurt  and  angry  to 
speak  with  her,  and  pushing  past  her,  I  made  my  way  into  my 
study.  She  followed  me,  however,  before  I  could  close  the 


42  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

" 4 1  am  sorry  that  I  broke  my  promise,  Jack,'  said  she ;  '  but 
if  you  knew  all  the  circumstances  I  am  sure  that  you  would 
forgive  me.' 

" '  Tell  me  everything,  then,'  said  I. 

" '  I  cannot,  Jack,  I  cannot,'  she  cried. 

" '  Until  you  tell  me  who  it  is  that  has  been  living  in  that 
cottage,  and  who  it  is  to  whom  you  have  given  that  photo- 
graph, there  can  never  be  any  confidence  between  us,'  said  I, 
and  breaking  away  from  her,  I  left  the  house.  That  was  yes- 
terday, Mr.  Holmes,  and  I  have  not  seen  her  since,  nor  do  I 
know  anything  more  about  this  strange  business.  It  is  the 
first  shadow  that  has  come  between  us,  and  it  has  so  shaken 
me  that  I  do  not  know  what  I  should  do  for  the  best.  Sud- 
denly this  morning  it  occurred  to  me  that  you  were  the  man 
to  advise  me,  so  I  have  hurried  to  you  now,  and  I  place  my- 
self unreservedly  in  your  hands.  If  there  is  any  point  which 
I  have  not  made  clear,  pray  question  me  about  it.  But,  above 
all,  tell  me  quickly  what  I  am  to  do,  for  this  misery  is  more 
than  I  can  bear." 

Holmes  and  I  had  listened  with  the  utmost  interest  to  this 
extraordinary  statement,  which  had  been  delivered  in  the 
jerky,  broken  fashion  of  a  man  who  is  under  the  influence  of 
extreme  emotion.  My  companion  sat  silent  now  for  some 
time,  with  his  chin  upon  his  hand,  lost  in  thought. 

"  Tell  me,"  said  he  at  last,  "  could  you  swear  that  this  was 
a  man's  face  which  you  saw  at  the  window  ?" 

"  Each  time  that  I  saw  it  I  was  some  distance  away  from 
it,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  say." 

"  You  appear,  however,  to  have  been  disagreeably  impressed 
by  it." 

"It  seemed  to  be  of  an  unnatural  color,  and  to  have  a 
strange  rigidity  about  the  features.  When  I  approached,  it 
vanished  with  a  jsrk." 

"  How  long  is  it  since  your  wife  asked  you  for  a  hundred 
pounds  ?" 

"  Nearly  two  months." 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  43 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  a  photograph  of  her  first  husband  ?" 

"  No ;  there  was  a  great  fire  at  Atlanta  very  shortly  after 
his  death,  and  all  her  papers  were  destroyed." 

"  And  yet  she  had  a  certificate  of  death.  You  say  that  you 
saw  it." 

"  Yes ;  she  got  a  duplicate  after  the  fire." 

"  Did  you  ever  meet  any  one  who  knew  her  in  America  ?" 

"No." 

"  Did  she  ever  talk  of  revisiting  the  place  ?" 

"  No." 

"  Or  get  letters  from  it  ?" 

"  No." 

"  Thank  you.  I  should  like  to  think  over  the  matter  a  lit- 
tle now.  If  the  cottage  is  now  permanently  deserted  we  may 
have  some  difficulty.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  as  I  fancy  is 
more  likely,  the  inmates  were  warned  of  your  coming,  and  left 
before  you  entered  yesterday,  then  they  may  be  back  now, 
and  we  should  clear  it  all  up  easily.  Let  me  advise  you,  then, 
to  return  to  Norbury,  and  to  examine  the  windows  of  the  cot- 
tage again.  If  you  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  inhabited, 
do  not  force  your  way  in,  but  send  a  wire  to  my  friend  and 
me.  We  shall  be  with  you  within  an  hour  of  receiving  it,  and 
we  shall  then  very  soon  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  business." 

"  And  if  it  is  still  empty  ?" 

"  In  that  case  I  shall  come  out  to-morrow  and  talk  it  over 
with  you.  Good-by;  and,  above  all,  do  not  fret  until  you 
know  that  you  really  have  a  cause  for  it." 

"  I  am  afraid  that  this  is  a  bad  business,  Watson,"  said  my 
companion,  as  he  returned  after  accompanying  Mr.  Grant 
Munro  to  the  door.  "  What  do  you  make  of  it  ?" 

"  It  had  an  ugly  sound,"  I  answered. 

"  Yes.     There's  blackmail  in  it,  or  I  am  much  mistaken." 

"  And  who  is  the  blackmailer  ?" 

"Well,  it  must  be  the  creature  who  lives  in  the  only  com- 
fortable room  in  the  place,  and  has  her  photograph  above  his 
fireplace.  Upon  my  word,  Watson,  there  is  something  vrrv 


(4  MEMOIRS  OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

attractive  about  that  livid  face  at  the  window,  and  I  would  not 
have  missed  the  case  for  worlds." 

"  You  have  a  theory  ?" 

"  Yes,  a  provisional  one.  But  I  shall  be  surprised  if  it  does 
not  turn  out  to  be  correct.  This  woman's  first  husband  is  in 
that  cottage." 

"  Why  do  you  think  so  ?" 

"  How  else  can  we  explain  her  frenzied  anxiety  that  her 
second  one  should  not  enter  it  ?  The  facts,  as  I  read  them, 
are  something  like  this :  This  woman  was  married  in  America. 
Her  husband  developed  some  hateful  qualities ;  or  shall  we 
say  that  he  contracted  some  loathsome  disease,  and  became  a 
leper  or  an  imbecile  ?  She  flies  from  him  at  last,  returns  to 
England,  changes  her  name,  and  starts  her  life,  as  she  thinks, 
afresh.  She  has  been  married  three  years,  and  believes  that 
her  position  is  quite  secure,  having  shown  her  husband  the 
death  certificate  of  some  man  whose  name  she  kas  assumed, 
when  suddenly  her  whereabouts  is  discovered  by  her  first  hus- 
band ;  or,  we  may  suppose,  by  some  unscrupulous  woman  who 
has  attached  herself  to  the  invalid.  They  write  to  the  wife, 
and  threaten  to  come  and  expose  her.  She  asks  for  a  hundred 
pounds,  and  endeavors  to  buy  them  off.  They  come  in  spite 
of  it,  and  when  the  husband  mentions  casually  to  the  wife  that 
there  are  new-comers  in  the  cottage,  she  knows  in  some  way 
that  they  are  her  pursuers.  She  waits  until  her  husband  is 
asleep,  and  then  she  rushes  down  to  endeavor  to  persuade 
them  to  leave  her  in  peace.  Having  no  success,  she  goes 
again  next  morning,  and  her  husband  meets  her,  as  he  has 
told  us,  as  she  comes  out.  She  promises  him  then  not  to  go 
there  again,  but  two  days  afterwards  the  hope  of  getting  rid  of 
those  dreadful  neighbors  was  too  strong  for  her,  and  she  made 
another  attempt,  taking  down  with  her  the  photograph  which 
had  probably  been  demanded  from  her.  In  the  midst  of  this 
interview  the  maid  rushed  in  to  say  that  the  master  had  come 
home,  on  which  the  wife,  knowing  that  he  would  come  straight 
down  to  the  cottage,  hurried  the  inmates  out  at  the  back  door, 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  45 

into  the  grove  of  fir-trees,  probably,  which  was  mentioned  as 
standing  near.  In  this  way  he  found  the  place  deserted.  I 
shall  be  very  much  surprised,  however,  if  it  is  still  so  when  he 
reconnoitres  it  this  evening.  What  do  you  think  of  my  the- 
ory ?" 

"It  is  all  surmise/ 

"  But  at  least  it  covers  all  the  facts.  When  new  facts  come 
to  our  knowledge  which  cannot  be  covered  by  it,  it  will  be 
time  enough  to  reconsider  it.  We  can  do  nothing  more  until 
we  have  a  message  from  our  friend  at  Norbury." 

But  we  had  not  a  very  long  time  to  wait  for  that.  It  came 
just  as  we  had  finished  our  tea.  "  The  cottage  is  still  ten- 
anted," it  said.  '"  Have  seen  the  face  again  at  the  window. 
Will  meet  the  seven-o'clock  train,  and  will  take  no  steps  until 
you  arrive." 

He  was  waiting  on  the  platform  when  we  stepped  out,  and 
we  could  see  in  the  light  of  the  station  lamps  that  he  was  very 
pale,  and  quivering  with  agitation. 

"They  are  still  there,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he,  laying  his 
hand  hard  upon  my  friend's  sleeve.  "  I  saw  lights  in  the 
cottage  as  I  came  down.  We  shall  settle  it  now  once  and  for 
all." 

"  What  is  your  plan,  then  ?"  asked  Holmes,  as  he  walked 
down  the  dark  tree-lined  road. 

"  I  am  going  to  force  my  way  in  and  see  for  myself  who  is 
in  the  house.  I  wish  you  both  to  be  there  as  witnesses." 

"  You  are  quite  determined  to  do  this,  in  spite  of  your 
wife's  warning  that  it  is  better  that  you  should  not  solve  the 
mystery  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  am  determined." 

"  W7ell,  I  think  that  you  are  in  the  right.  Any  truth  is 
better  than  indefinite  doubt.  We  had  better  go  up  at  once. 
Of  course,  legally,  we  are  putting  ourselves  hopelessly  in  the 
wrong;  but  I  think  that  it  is  worth  it." 

It  was  a  very  dark  night,  and  a  thin  rain  began  to  fall  as 


46  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

we  turned  from  the  high -road  into  a  narrow  lane,  deeply 
rutted,  with  hedges  on  either  side.  Mr.  Grant  Munro  pushed 
impatiently  forward,  however,  and  we  stumbled  after  him  as 
best  we  could. 

"  There  are  the  lights  of  my  house,"  he  murmured,  point- 
ing to  a  glimmer  among  the  trees.  "  And  here  is  the  cottage 
which  I  am  going  to  enter." 

We  turned  a  corner  in  the  lane  as  he  spoke,  and  there  was 
the  building  close  beside  us.  A  yellow  bar  falling  across  the 
black  foreground  showed  that  the  door  was  not  quite  closed, 
and  one  window  in  the  upper  story  was  brightly  illuminated. 
As  we  looked,  we  saw  a  dark  blur  moving  across  the  blind. 

"  There  is  that  creature  !"  cried  Grant  Munro.  "  You  can 
see  for  yourselves  that  some  one  is  there.  Now  follow  me, 
and  we  shall  soon  know  all." 

We  approached  the  door ;  but  suddenly  a  woman  appeared 
out  of  the  shadow  and  stood  in  the  golden  track  of  the  lamp- 
light. I  could  not  see  her  face  in  the  darkness,  but  her  arms 
were  thrown  out  in  an  attitude  of  entreaty. 

"  For  God's  sake,  don't,  Jack !"  she  cried.  "  I  had  a  pre- 
sentiment that  you  would  come  this  evening.  Think  better  of 
it,  dear !  Trust  me  again,  and  you  will  never  have  cause  to 
regret  it." 

"  I  have  trusted  you  too  long,  Effie,"  he  cried,  sternly. 
"  Leave  go  of  me !  I  must  pass  you.  My  friends  and  I  are 
going  to  settle  this  matter  once  and  forever !"  He  pushed 
her  to  one  side,  and  we  followed  closely  after  him.  As  he 
threw  the  door  open  an  old  woman  ran  out  in  front  of  him 
and  tried  to  bar  his  passage,  but  he  thrust  her  back,  and  an 
instant  afterwards  we  were  all  upon  the  stairs.  Grant  Munro 
rushed  into  the  lighted  room  at  the  top,  and  we  entered  at  his 
heels. 

It  was  a  cosey,  well-furnished  apartment,  with  two  candles 
burning  upon  the  table  and  two  upon  the  mantelpiece.  In 
the  corner,  stooping  over  a  desk,  there  sat  what  appeared  to 
be  a  little  girl.  Her  face  was  turned  away  as  we  entered,  but 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  47 

we  could  see  that  she  was  dressed  in  a  red  frock,  and  that 
she  had  long  white  gloves  on.  As  she  whisked  round  to  us, 
I  gave  a  cry  of  surprise  and  horror.  The  face  which  she 
turned  towards  us  was  of  the  strangest  livid  tint,  and  the 
features  were  absolutely  devoid  of  any  expression.  An  in- 
stant later  the  mystery  was  explained.  Holmes,  with  a  laugh, 
passed  his  hand  behind  the  child's  ear,  a  mask  peeled  off  from 
her  countenance,  and  there  was  a  little  coal-black  negress, 
with  all  her  white  teeth  flashing  in  amusement  at  our  amazed 
faces.  I  burst  out  laughing,  out  of  sympathy  with  her  mer- 
riment ;  but  Grant  Munro  stood  staring,  with  his  hand  clutch- 
ing his  throat. 

"  My  God  !"  he  cried.  "  What  can  be  the  meaning  of 
this  ?" 

"  I  will  tell  you  the  meaning  of  it,"  cried  the  lady,  sweep- 
ing into  the  room  with  a  proud,  set  face.  "  You  have  forced 
me,  against  my  own  judgment,  to  tell  you,  and  now  we  must 
both  make  the  best  of  it.  My  husband  died  at  Atlanta.  My 
child  survived." 

14  Your  child  ?" 

She  drew  a  large  silver  locket  from  her  bosom.  "  You  have 
never  seen  this  open." 

"  I  understood  that  it  did  not  open." 

She  touched  a  spring,  and  the  front  hinged  back.  There 
was  a  portrait  withki  of  a  man  strikingly  handsome  and  intel- 
ligent-looking, but  bearing  unmistakable  signs  upon  his  feat- 
ures of  his  African  descent. 

"  That  is  John  Hebron,  of  Atlanta,"  said  the  lady,  "  and  a 
nobler  man  never  walked  the  earth.  I  cut  myself  off  from 
my  race  in  order  to  wed  him,  but  never  once  while  he  lived 
did  I  for  an  instant  regret  it.  It  was  our  misfortune  that  our 
only  child  took  after  his  people  rather  than  mine.  It  is  often 
so  in  such  matches,  and  little  Lucy  is  darker  far  than  ever  her 
father  was.  But  dark  or  fair,  she  is  my  own  dear  little  girlie, 
and  her  mother's  pet."  The  little  creature  ran  across  at  the 
words  and  nestled  up  against  the  lady's  dress.  "  When  I  left 


t8  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK.    HOLMES 

her  in  America,"  she  continued,  "  it  was  only  because  hei 
health  was  weak,  and  the  change  might  have  done  her  harm. 
She  was  given  to  the  care  of  a  faithful  Scotch  woman  who  had 
once  been  our  servant.  Never  for  an  instant  did  I  dream  of 
disowning  her  as  my  child.  But  when  chance  threw  you  in 
my  way,  Jack,  and  I  learned  to  love  you,  I  feared  to  tell  you 
about  my  child.  God  forgive  me,  I  feared  that  I  should  lose 
you,  and  I  had  not  the  courage  to  tell  you.  I  had  to  choose 
between  you,  and  in  my  weakness  I  turned  away  from  my  own 
little  girl.  For  three  years  I  have  kept  her  existence  a  secret 
from  you,  but  I  heard  from  the  nurse,  and  I  knew  that  all  was 
well  with  her.  At  last,  however,  there  came  an  overwhelming 
desire  to  see  the  child  once  more.  I  struggled  against  it,  but 
in  vain.  Though  I  knew  the  danger,  I  determined  to  have  the 
child  over,  if  it  were  but  for  a  few  weeks.  I  sent  a  hundred 
pounds  to  the  nurse,  and  I  gave  her  instructions  about  this 
cottage,  so  that  she  might  come  as  a  neighbor,  without  my 
appearing  to  be  in  any  way  connected  with  her.  I  pushed 
my  precautions  so  far  as  to  order  her  to  keep  the  child  in 
the  house  during  the  daytime,  and  to  cover  up  her  little  face 
and  hands  so  that  even  those  who  might  see  her  at  the  win- 
dow should  not  gossip  about  there  being  a  black  child  in 
the  neighborhood.  If  I  had  been  less  cautious  I  might  have 
been  more  wise,  but  I  was  half  crazy  with  fear  that  you 
should  learn  the  truth. 

"  It  was  you  who  told  me  first  that  the  cottage  was  occu- 
pied. I  should  have  waited  for  the  morning,  but  I  could  not 
sleep  for  excitement,  and  so  at  last  I  slipped  out,  knowing 
how  difficult  it  is  to  awake  you.  But  you  saw  me  go,  and  that 
was  the  beginning  of  my  troubles.  Next  day  you  had  my 
secret  at  your  mercy,  but  you  nobly  refrained  from  pursuing 
your  advantage.  Three  days  later,  however,  the  nurse  and 
child  only  just  escaped  from  the  back  door  as  you  rushed  in 
at  the  front  one.  And  now  to-night  you  at  last  know  all,  and 
I  ask  you  what  is  to  become  of  us,  my  child  and  me  ?"  She 
clasped  her  hands  and  waited  for  an  answer. 


THE   YELLOW   FACE  49 

It  was  a  long  ten  minutes  before  Grant  Munro  broke  the 
silence,  and  when  his  answer  came  it  was  one  of  which  I  love 
to  think.  He  lifted  the  little  child,  kissed  her,  and  then,  still 
carrying  her,  he  held  his  other  hand  out  to  his  wife  and  turned 
towards  the  door. 

"  We  can  talk  it  over  more  comfortably  at  home,"  said  he. 
"  I  am  not  a  very  good  man,  Effie,  but  I  think  that  I  am  a 
better  one  than  you  have  given  me  credit  for  being." 

Holmes  and  I  followed  them  down  the  lane,  and  my  friend 
plucked  at  my  sleeve  as  we  came  out. 

"  I  think,"  said  he,  "  that  we  shall  be  of  more  use  in  Lon- 
don than  in  Norbury." 

Not  another  word  did  he  say  of  the  case  until  late  that 
night,  when  he  was  turning  away,  with  his  lighted  candle,  for 
his  bedroom. 

"  Watson,"  said  he,  "  if  it  should  ever  strike  you  that  I  am 
getting  a  little  over -confident  in  my  powers,  or  giving  less 
pains  to  a  case  than  it  deserves,  kindly  whisper  '  Norbury '  ID 
my  ear,  and  I  shall  be  infinitely  obliged  to  you." 


THE   STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK 

[HORTLY  after  my  marriage  I  had  bought  a 
connection  in  the  Paddington  district.  Old  Mr, 
Farquhar,  from  whom  I  purchased  it,  had  at  one 
time  an  excellent  general  practice ,  but  his  age, 
and  an  affliction  of  the  nature  of  St.  Vitus's 
dance  from  which  he  suffered,  had  very  much  thinned  it. 
The  public  not  unnaturally  goes  on  the  principle  that  he 
who  would  heal  others  must  himself  be  whole,  and  looks 
askance  at  the  curative  powers  of  the  man  whose  own  case 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  his  drugs.  Thus  as  my  predecessor 
weakened  his  practice  declined,  until  when  I  purchased  it 
from  him  it  had  sunk  from  twelve  hundred  to  little  more 
than  three  hundred  a  year.  I  had  confidence,  however,  in  my 
own  youth  and  energy,  and  was  convinced  that  in  a  very  few 
years  the  concern  would  be  as  flourishing  as  ever. 

For  three  months  after  taking  over  the  practice  I  was  kept 
very  closely  at  work,  and  saw  little  of  my  friend  Sherlock 
Holmes,  for  I  was  too  busy  to  visit  Baker  Street,  and  he  sel- 
dom went  anywhere  himself  save  upon  professional  business. 
I  was  surprised,  therefore,  when,  one  morning  in  June,  as  I  sat 
reading  the  British  Medical  Journal  after  breakfast,  I  heard 
a  ring  at  the  bell,  followed  by  the  high,  somewhat  strident 
tones  of  my  old  companion's  voice. 

"  Ah,  my  dear  Watson,"  said  he,  striding  into  the  room,  **  I 
am  very  delighted  to  see  you  !  I  trust  that  Mrs.  Watson  has 
entirely  recovered  from  all  the  little  excitements  connected 
with  our  adventure  of  the  Siarn  of  Four." 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  51 

"Thank  you,  we  are  both  very  well,"  said  I,  shaking  him 
warmly  by  the  hand. 

"And  I  hope,  also,"  he  continued,  sitting  down  in  the 
rocking-chair,  "that  the  cares  of  medical  practice  have  not 
entirely  obliterated  the  interest  which  you  used  to  take  in 
our  little  deductive  problems." 

"On  the  contrary,"  I  answered,  "it  was  only  last  night 
that  I  was  looking  over  my  old  notes,  and  classifying  some 
of  our  past  results." 

"I  trust  that  you  don't  consider  your  collection  closed." 

"Not  at  all.  I  should  wish  nothing  better  than  to  hav; 
some  more  of  such  experiences." 

"  To-day,  for  example  ?" 

"Yes,  to-day,  if  you  like." 

"  And  as  far  off  as  Birmingham  ?" 

"  Certainly,  if  you  wish  it" 

"  And  the  practice  ?" 

"  I  do  my  neighbor's  when  he  goes.  He  is  always  ready 
to  work  off  the  debt." 

"  Ha !  nothing  could  be  better,"  said  Holmes,  leaning  back 
in  his  chair  and  looking  keenly  at  me  from  under  his  half- 
dosed  lids.  "I  perceive  that  you  have  been  unwell  lately. 
Summer  colds  are  always  a  little  trying." 

"I  was  confined  to  the  house  by  a  severe  chill  for  three 
days  last  week.  I  thought,  however,  that  I  had  cast  off  every 
trace  of  it." 

a  So  you  have.     You  look  remarkably  robust." 

**  How,  then,  did  you  know  of  it  ?" 

"  My  dear  fellow,  you  know  my  methods." 

«*  Vou  deduced  it,  then  ?" 

"  Certainly." 

*  And  from  what  ?" 

**  From  your  slippers." 

I  glanced  down  at  the  new  patent-leathers  which  I  was 
wearing.  "  How  on  earth — "  I  began,  but  Holmes  answered 
my  question  before  it  was  asked. 


52  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  Your  slippers  are  new,"  he  said.  "  You  could  not  have 
had  them  more  than  a  few  weeks.  The  soles  which  you  are 
at  this  moment  presenting  to  me  are  slightly  scorched.  For 
a  moment  I  thought  they  might  have  got  wet  and  been  burned 
in  the  drying.  But  near  the  instep  there  is  a  small  circular 
wafer  of  paper  with  the  shopman's  hieroglyphics  upon  it. 
Damp  would  of  course  have  removed  this.  You  had,  then, 
been  sitting  with  your  feet  outstretched  to  the  fire,  which  a 
man  would  hardly  do  even  in  so  wet  a  June  as  this  if  he  were 
in  his  full  health." 

Like  all  Holmes's  reasoning  the  thing  seemed  simplicity 
itself  when  it  was  once  explained.  He  read  the  thought  upon 
my  features,  and  his  smile  had  a  tinge  of  bitterness. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  I  rather  give  myself  away  when  I  explain," 
said  he.  "  Results  without  causes  are  much  more  impressive. 
You  are  ready  to  come  to  Birmingham,  then  ?" 

"  Certainly.     What  is  the  case  ?" 

"  You  shall  hear  it  all  in  the  train.  My  client  is  outside  in 
a  four-wheeler.  Can  you  come  at  once  ?" 

"  In  an  instant."  I  scribbled  a  note  to  my  neighbor,  rushed 
upstairs  to  explain  the  matter  to  my  wife,  and  joined  Holmes 
upon  the  door-step. 

"  Your  neighbor  is  a  doctor,"  said  he,  nodding  at  the  brass 
plate. 

"  Yes ;  he  bought  a  practice  as  I  did." 

"  An  old-established  one  ?" 

"Just  the  same  as  mine.  Both  have  been  ever  since  the 
houses  were  built." 

"Ah  !  then  you  got  hold  of  the  best  of  the  two." 

"  I  think  I  did.     But  how  do  you  know  ?" 

"  By  the  steps,  my  boy.  Yours  are  worn  three  inches 
deeper  than  his.  But  this  gentleman  in  the  cab  is  my  client, 
Mr.  Hall  Pycroft.  Allow  me  to  introduce  you  to  him.  Whip 
your  horse  up,  cabby,  for  we  have  only  just  time  to  catch  our 
train." 

The  man  whom  I  found  myself  facing  was  a  well-built, 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK 


53 


fresh-complexioned  young  fellow,  with  a  frank,  honest  face 
and  a  slight,  crisp,  yellow  moustache.  He  wore  a  very  shiny 
top  hat  and  a  neat  suit  of  sober  black,  which  made  him  look 
what  he  was — a  smart  young  City  man,  of  the  class  who  have 
been  labelled  cockneys,  but  who  give  us  our  crack  volunteer 
regiments,  and  who  turn  out  more  fine  athletes  and  sports- 
men than  any  body  of  men  in  these  islands.  His  round, 
ruddy  face  was  naturally  full  of  cheeriness,  but  the  corners  of 
his  mouth  seemed  to  me  to  be  pulled  down  in  a  half-comical 
distress.  It  was  not,  however,  until  we  were  all  in  a  first-class 
carriage  and  well  started  upon  our  journey  to  Birmingham 
that  I  was  able  to  learn  what  the  trouble  was  which  had  driven 
him  to  Sherlock  Holmes. 

"  We  have  a  clear  run  here  of  seventy  minutes,"  Holmes 
remarked.  "  I  want  you,  Mr.  Hall  Pycroft,  to  tell  my  friend 
your  very  interesting  experience  exactly  as  you  have  told  it  to 
me,  or  with  more  detail  if  possible.  It  will  be  of  use  to  me 
to  hear  the  succession  of  events  again.  It  is  a  case,  Watson, 
which  may  prove  to  have  something  in  it,  or  may  prove  to 
have  nothing,  but  which,  at  least,  presents  those  unusual  and 
outrt  features  which  are  as  dear  to  you  as  they  are  to  me. 
Now,  Mr.  Pycroft,  I  shall  not  interrupt  you  again." 

Our  young  companion  looked  at  me  with  a  twinkle  in  his 
eye. 

The  worst  of  the  story  is,  said  he,  that  I  show  myself  up 
as  such  a  confounded  fool.  Of  course  it  may  work  out  all 
right,  and  I  don't  see  that  I  could  have  done  otherwise ;  but 
if  I  have  lost  my  crit>  and  get  nothing  in  exchange  I  shall  feel 
what  a  soft  Johnnie  I  have  been.  I'm  not  very  good  at  tell- 
ing a  story,  Dr.  Watson,  but  it  is  like  this  with  me  : 

I  used  to  have  a  billet  at  Coxon  &  Woodhouse's,  of  Dra- 
per's Gardens,  but  they  were  let  in  early  in  the  spring  through 
the  Venezuelan  loan,  as  no  doubt  you  remember,  and  came  a 
nasty  cropper.  I  had  been  with  them  five  years,  and  old 
Coxon  gave  me  a  ripping  good  testimonial  when  the  smash 
came,  but  of  course  we  clerks  were  all  turned  adrift,  the  twenty- 


54  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

seven  of  us.  I  tried  here  and  tried  there,  but  there  were 
lots  of  other  chaps  on  the  same  lay  as  myself,  and  it  was  a 
perfect  frost  for  a  long  time.  I  had  been  taking  three  pounds 
a  week  at  Coxon's,  and  I  had  saved  about  seventy  of  them, 
but  I  soon  worked  my  way  through  that  and  out  at  the  other 
end.  I  was  fairly  at  the  end  of  my  tether  at  last,  and  could 
hardly  find  the  stamps  to  answer  the  advertisements  or  the 
envelopes  to  stick  them  to.  I  had  worn  out  my  boots  pad 
dling  up  office  stairs,  and  I  seemed  just  as  far  from  getting  a 
billet  as  ever. 

At  last  I  saw  a  vacancy  at  Mawson  &  WilKams's,  the  great 
stock-broking  firm  in  Lombard  Street.  I  dare  say  E.  C.  is  not 
much  in  your  line,  but  I  can  tell  you  that  this  is  about  the 
richest  house  in  London.  The  advertisement  was  to  be  an- 
swered by  letter  only.  I  sent  in  my  testimonial  and  applica- 
tion, but  without  the  least  hope  of  getting  it.  Back  came  an 
answer  by  return,  saying  that  if  I  would  appear  next  Monday 
I  might  take  over  my  new  duties  at  once,  provided  that  my 
appearance  was  satisfactory.  No  one  knows  how  these  things 
are  worked.  Some  people  say  that  the  manager  just  plunges 
his  hand  into  the  heap  and  takes  the  first  that  comes.  Any- 
how it  was  my  innings  that  time,  and  I  don't  ever  wish  to  feel 
better  pleased.  The  screw  was  a  pound  a  week  rise,  and  the 
duties  just  about  the  same  as  at  Coxon's. 

And  now  I  come  to  the  queer  part  of  the  business.  I  was 
in  diggings  out  Hampstead  way,  17  Potter's  Terrace.  Well, 
I  was  sitting  doing  a  smoke  that  very  evening  after  I  had 
been  promised  the  appointment,  when  up  came  my  landlady 
with  a  card  which  had  "  Arthur  Pinner,  Financial  Agent," 
printed  upon  it.  I  had  never  heard  the  name  before  and 
could  not  imagine  what  he  wanted  with  me  ;  but,  of  course,  I 
asked  her  to  show  him  up.  In  he  walked,  a  middle-sized, 
dark-haired,  dark-eyed,  black-bearded  man,  with  a  touch  of 
the  Sheeny  about  his  nose.  He  had  a  brisk  kind  of  way  with 
him  and  spoke  sharply,  like  a  man  who  knew  the  value  of 
time. 


THE   STOCK-BROKER'S   CLERK  CC 

«  Mr.  Hall  Pycroft,  I  believe  ?"  said  he. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  I  answered,  pushing  a  chair  towards  him. 

"  Lately  engaged  at  Coxon  &  Woodhouse's  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  now  on  the  staff  of  Mawson's." 

"  Quite  so." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  the  fact  is  that  I  have  heard  some  really 
extraordinary  stories  about  your  financial  ability.  You  rt- 
member  Parker,  who  used  to  be  Coxon's  manager  ?  He  can 
never  say  enough  about  it." 

Of  course  I  was  pleased  to  hear  this.  I  had  always  been 
pretty  sharp  in  the  office,  but  I  had  never  dreamed  that  I  was 
talked  about  in  the  City  in  this  fashion. 

"  You  have  a  good  memory  ?"  said  he. 

"  Pretty  fair,"  I  answered,  modestly. 

"  Have  you  kept  in  touch  with  the  market  while  you  have 
been  out  of  work  ?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes.     I  read  the  stock-exchange  list  every  morning." 

"Now  that  shows  real  application!"  he  cried.  "That  is 
the  way  to  prosper !  You  won't  mind  my  testing  you.  will 
you  ?  Let  me  see.  How  are  Ayrshires  ?" 

"  A  hundred  and  six  and  a  quarter  to  a  hundred  and  five 
and  seven-eighths." 

"  And  New  Zealand  consolidated  ?" 

"A  hundred  and  four." 

"  And  British  Broken  Hills  ?" 

"  Seven  to  seven- an d-six." 

"  Wonderful !"  he  cried,  with  his  hands  up.  "  This  quite 
fits  in  with  all  that  I  had  heard.  My  boy,  my  boy,  you  are 
very  much  too  good  to  be  a  clerk  at  Mawson's !" 

This  outburst  rather  astonished  me,  as  you  can  think. 
"  Well,"  said  I,  "  other  people  don't  think  quite  so  much  of 
me  as  you  seem  to  do,  Mr.  Pinner.  I  had  a  hard  enough  fight 
to  get  this  berth,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  have  it." 

"  Pooh,  man ;  you  should  soar  above  it.  You  are  not  in 
your  true  sphere.  Now,  I'll  tell  you  how  it  stands  with  me. 


r^  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

What  I  have  to  offer  is  little  enough  when  measured  by  your 
ability,  but  when  compared  with  Mawson's,  it's  light  to  dark. 
Let  me  see.  When  do  you  go  to  Mawson's  ?" 

"  On  Monday." 

"  Ha,  ha !  I  think  I  would  risk  a  little  sporting  flutter  that 
you  don't  go  there  at  all." 

"  Not  go  to  Mawson's  ?" 

"  No,  sir.  By  that  day  you  will  be  the  business  manager 
of  the  Franco-Midland  Hardware  Company,  Limited,  with  a 
hundred  and  thirty-four  branches  in  the  towns  and  villages  of 
France,  not  counting  one  in  Brussels  and  one  in  San  Remo." 

This  took  my  breath  away.     "  I  never  heard  of  it,"  said  I. 

"  Very  likely  not.  It  has  been  kept  very  quiet,  for  the  cap- 
ital was  all  privately  subscribed,  and  it's  too  good  a  thing  to 
let  the  public  into.  My  brother,  Harry  Pinner,  is  promoter, 
and  joins  the  board  after  allotment  as  managing  director. 
He  knew  I  was  in  the  swim  down  here,  and  asked  me  to  pick 
up  a  good  man  cheap.  A  young,  pushing  man  with  plenty  of 
snap  about  him.  Parker  spoke  of  you,  and  that  brought  me 
here  to-night.  We  can  only  offer  you  a  beggarly  five  hundred 
to  start  with." 

"  Five  hundred  a  year !"  I  shouted. 

"  Only  that  at  the  beginning ;  but  you  are  to  have  an  over- 
riding commission  of  one  per  cent,  on  all  business  done  by 
your  agents,  and  you  may  take  my  word  for  it  that  this  will 
come  to  more  than  your  salary." 

"  But  I  know  nothing  about  hardware." 

"  Tut,  my  boy ;  you  know  about  figures." 

My  head  buzzed,  and  I  could  hardly  sit  still  in  my  chair. 
But  suddenly  a  little  chill  of  doubt  came  upon  me. 

"  I  must  be  frank  with  you,"  said  I.  "  Mawson  only  gives 
me  two  hundred,  but  Mawson  is  safe.  Now,  really,  I  know 
so  little  about  your  company  that — " 

"  Ah,  smart,  smart !"  he  cried,  in  a  kind  of  ecstasy  of  de- 
light. "  You  are  the  very  man  for  us.  You  are  not  to  be 
talked  over,  and  quite  right,  too.  Now,  here's  a  note  for  a 


THE   STOCK-BROKER'S    CLERK  $7 

hundred  pounds,  and  if  you  think  that  we  can  do  business 
you  may  just  slip  it  into  your  pocket  as  an  advance  upon 
your  salary." 

"  That  is  very  handsome,"  said  I.  "  When  should  I  take 
over  my  new  duties  ?" 

"  Be  in  Birmingham  to-morrow  at  one,"  said  he.  "  I  have  a 
note  in  my  pocket  here  which  you  will  take  to  my  brother. 
You  will  find  him  at  ia6b  Corporation  Street,  where  the  tem- 
porary offices  of  the  company  are  situated.  Of  course  he 
must  confirm  your  engagement,  but  between  ourselves  it  will 
be  all  right." 

"  Really,  I  hardly  know  how  to  express  my  gratitude,  Mr. 
Pinner,"  said  I. 

"Not  at  all,  my  boy.  You  have  only  got  your  deserts. 
There  are  one  or  two  small  things — mere  formalities — which 
I  must  arrange  with  you.  You  have  a  bit  of  paper  beside 
you  there.  Kindly  write  upon  it  '  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
act  as  business  manager  to  the  Franco-Midland  Hardware 
Company,  Limited,  at  a  minimum  salary  of  ,£500." 

I  did  as  he  asked,  and  he  put  the  paper  in  his  pocket. 

"  There  is  one  other  detail,"  said  he.  "  What  do  you  intend 
to  do  about  Mawson's  ?" 

I  had  forgotten  all  about  Mawson's  in  my  joy.  "  I'll  write 
and  resign,"  said  I. 

"  Precisely  what  I  don't  want  you  to  do.  I  had  a  row  over 
you  with  Mawson's  manager.  I  had  gone  up  to  ask  him 
about  you,  and  he  was  very  offensive  ;  accused  me  of  coaxing 
you  away  from  the  service  of  the  firm,  and  that  sort  of  thing. 
At  last  I  fairly  lost  my  temper.  '  If  you  want  good  men  you 
should  pay  them  a  good  price,'  said  I. 

" '  He  would  rather  have  our  small  price  than  your  big 
one,'  said  he. 

"  '  I'll  lay  you  a  nver,'  said  I,  'that  when  he  has  my  offer 
you'll  never  so  much  as  hear  from  him  again.' 

"  '  Done  !'  said  he.  '  We  picked  him  out  of  the  gutter,  and 
ke  won't  leave  us  so  easily.'  Those  were  his  very  words." 


58  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  The  impudent  scoundrel !"  I  cried.  "  I've  never  so  much 
as  seen  him  in  my  life.  Why  should  I  consider  him  in  any 
way  ?  I  shall  certainly  not  write  if  you  would  rather  I  didn't." 

"  Good  !  That's  a  promise,"  said  he,  rising  from  his  chair. 
"  Well,  I'm  delighted  to  have  got  so  good  a  man  for  my  brother. 
Here's  your  advance  of  a  hundred  pounds,  and  here  is  the 
letter.  Make  a  note  of  the  address,  1260  Corporation  Street, 
and  remember  that  one  o'clock  to-morrow  is  your  appoint- 
ment. Good-night ;  and  may  you  have  all  the  fortune  that 
you  deserve !" 

That's  just  about  all  that  passed  between  us,  as  near  as  I 
can  remember.  You  can  imagine,  Dr.  Watson,  how  pleased 
I  was  at  such  an  extraordinary  bit  of  good-fortune.  I  sat  up 
half  the  night  hugging  myself  over  it,  and  next  day  I  was  off 
to  Birmingham  in  a  train  that  would  take  me  in  plenty  time 
for  my  appointment.  I  took  my  things  to  a  hotel  in  New 
Street,  and  then  I  made  my  way  to  the  address  which  had 
been  given  me. 

It  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  my  time,  but  I  thought 
that  would  make  no  difference.  i26b  was  a  passage  between 
two  large  shops,  which  led  to  a  winding  stone  stair,  from 
which  there  were  many  flats,  let  as  offices  to  companies  or 
professional  men.  The  names  of  the  occupants  were  painted 
at  the  bottom  on  the  wall,  but  there  was  no  such  name  as 
the  Franco-Midland  Hardware  Company,  Limited.  I  stood 
for  a  few  minutes  with  my  heart  in  my  boots,  wondering 
whether  the  whole  thing  was  an  elaborate  hoax  or  not,  when 
up  came  a  man  and  addressed  me.  He  was  very  like  the 
chap  I  had  seen  the  night  before,  the  same  figure  and  voice, 
but  he  was  clean-shaven  and  his  hair  was  lighter. 

"  Are  you  Mr.  Hall  Pycroft  ?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,"  said  I. 

"  Oh  !  I  was  expecting  you,  but  you  are  a  trifle  before  your 
time.  I  had  a  note  from  my  brother  this  morning  in  which 
he  sang  your  praises  very  loudly." 

"  I  was  just  looking  for  the  offices  when  you  came." 


THE   STOCK-BROKElfS   CLERK  59 

"We  have  not  got  our  name  up  yet,  for  we  only  secured 
these  temporary  premises  last  week.  Come  up  with  me,  and 
we  will  talk  the  matter  over." 

I  followed  him  to  the  top  of  a  very  lofty  stair,  and  there, 
right  under  the  slates,  were  a  couple  of  empty,  dusty  little 
rooms,  uncarpeted  and  uncurtained,  into  which  he  led  me.  I 
had  thought  of  a  great  office  with  shining  tables  and  rows  of 
clerks,  such  as  I  was  used  to,  and  I  dare  say  I  stared  rather 
straight  at  the  two  deal  chairs  and  one  little  table,  which, 
with  a  ledger  and  a  waste-paper  basket,  made  up  the  whole 
furniture. 

"  Don't  be  disheartened,  Mr.  Pycroft,"  said  my  new  ac- 
quaintance, seeing  the  length  of  my  face.  "Rome  was  not 
built  in  a  day,  and  we  have  lots  of  money  at  our  backs,  though 
we  don't  cut  much  dash  yet  in  offices.  Pray  sit  down,  and 
let  me  have  your  letter." 

I  gave  it  to  him,  and  he  read  it  over  very  carefully. 

"  You  seem  to  have  made  a  vast  impression  upon  my  broth- 
er Arthur,"  said  he  ;  "  and  I  know  that  he  is  a  pretty  shrewd 
judge.  He  swears  by  London,  you  know ;  and  I  by  Birming- 
ham ;  but  this  time  I  shall  follow  his  advice.  Pray  consider 
yourself  definitely  engaged." 

"  What  are  my  duties  ?"  I  asked. 

"  You  will  eventually  manage  the  great  depot  in  Paris, 
which  will  pour  a  flood  of  English  crockery  into  the  shops  of 
a  hundred  and  thirty-four  agents  in  France.  The  purchase 
will  be  completed  in  a  week,  and  meanwhile  you  will  remain 
in  Birmingham  and  make  yourself  useful." 

"How?" 

For  answer,  he  took  a  big  red  book  out  of  a  drawer. 

"  This  is  a  directory  of  Paris,"  said  he,  "  with  the  trades 
after  the  names  of  the  people.  I  want  you  to  take  it  home 
with  you,  and  to  mark  off  all  the  hardware-sellers,  with  their 
addresses.  It  would  be  of  the  greatest  use  to  me  to  have 
them." 

"  Surely  there  are  classified  lists  ?"  I 


60  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  Not  reliable  ones.  Their  system  is  different  from  ours. 
Stick  at  it,  and  let  me  have  the  lists  by  Monday,  at  twelve. 
Good-day,  Mr.  Pycroft.  If  you  continue  to  show  zeal  and 
intelligence  you  will  find  the  company  a  good  master." 

I  went  back  to  the  hotel  with  the  big  book  under  my  arm, 
and  with  very  conflicting  feelings  in  my  breast.  On  the  one 
hand,  I  was  definitely  engaged  and  had  a  hundred  pounds  in 
my  pocket ;  on  the  other,  the  look  of  the  offices,  the  absence 
of  name  on  the  wall,  and  other  of  the  points  which  would 
strike  a  business  man  had  left  a  bad  impression  as  to  the  po- 
sition of  my  employers.  However,  come  what  might,  I  had 
my  money,  so  I  settled  down  to  my  task.  All  Sunday  I  was 
kept  hard  at  work,  and  yet  by  Monday  I  had  only  got  as  far 
as  H.  I  went  round  to  my  employer,  found  him  in  the  same 
dismantled  kind  of  room,  and  was  told  to  keep  at  it  until 
Wednesday,  and  then  come  again.  On  Wednesday  it  was  still 
unfinished,  so  I  hammered  away  until  Friday — that  is,  yester- 
day. Then  I  brought  it  round  to  Mr.  Harry  Pinner. 

" Thank  you  very  much,"  said  he ;  "I  fear  that  I  under- 
rated the  difficulty  of  the  task.  This  list  will  be  of  very  ma- 
terial assistance  to  me." 

"  It  took  some  time,"  said  I. 

"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  I  want  you  to  make  a  list  of  the 
furniture  shops,  for  they  all  sell  crockery." 

"Very  good." 

u  And  you  can  come  up  to-morrow  evening,  at  seven,  and 
let  me  know  how  you  are  getting  on.  Don't  overwork  your 
self.  A  couple  of  hours  at  Day's  Music  Hall  in  the  evening 
would  do  you  no  harm  after  your  labors."  He  laughed  as 
he  spoke,  and  I  saw  with  a  thrill  that  his  second  tooth  upon 
the  left-hand  side  had  been  very  badly  stuffed  with  gold. 

Sherlock  Holmes  rubbed  his  hands  with  delight,  and  I 
stared  with  astonishment  at  our  client. 

"  You  may  well  look  surprised,  Dr.  Watson ;  but  it  is  this 
way,"  said  he  :  "  When  I  was  speaking  to  the  other  chap  in 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  6x 

London,  at  the  time  that  he  laughed  at  my  not  going  to  Maw- 
son's,  I  happened  to  notice  that  his  tooth  was  stuffed  in  this 
very  identical  fashion.  The  glint  of  the  gold  in  each  case 
caught  my  eye,  you  see.  When  I  put  that  with  the  voice  and 
figure  being  the  same,  and  only  those  things  altered  which 
might  be  changed  by  a  razor  or  a  wig,  I  could  not  doubt  that 
it  was  the  same  man.  Of  course  you  expect  two  brothers  to 
be  alike,  but  not  that  they  should  have  the  same  tooth  stuffed 
in  the  same  way.  He  bowed  me  out,  and  I  found  myself  in 
the  street,  hardly  knowing  whether  I  was  on  my  head  or  my 
heels.  Back  I  went  to  my  hotel,  put  my  head  in  a  basin  of 
cold  water,  and  tried  to  think  it  out.  Why  had  he  sent  me 
from  London  to  Birmingham  ?  Why  had  he  got  there  before 
me  ?  And  why  had  he  written  a  letter  from  himself  to  him- 
self ?  It  was  altogether  too  much  for  me,  and  I  could  make 
no  sense  of  it.  And  then  suddenly  it  struck  me  that  what  was 
dark  to  me  might  be  very  light  to  Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes.  I 
had  just  time  to  get  up  to  town  by  the  night  train  to  see  him 
this  morning,  and  to  bring  you  both  back  with  me  to  Bir- 
mingham." 

There  was  a  pause  after  the  stock-broker's  clerk  had  con- 
cluded his  surprising  experience.  Then  Sherlock  Holmes 
cocked  his  eye  at  me,  leaning  back  on  the  cushions  with  a 
pleased  and  yet  critical  face,  like  a  connoisseur  who  has  just 
taken  his  first  sip  of  a  comet  vintage. 

"  Rather  fine,  Watson,  is  it  not  ?"  said  he.  "  There  are 
points  in  it  which  please  me.  I  think  that  you  will  agree 
with  me  that  an  interview  with  Mr.  Arthur  Harry  Pinner  in 
the  temporary  offices  of  the  Franco-Midland  Hardware  Com- 
pany, Limited,  would  be  a  rather  interesting  experience  for 
both  of  us." 

"  But  how  can  we  do  it  ?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  easily  enough,"  said  Hall  Pycroft,  cheerily.  "You 
are  two  friends  of  mine  who  are  in  want  of  a  billet,  and  what 
could  be  more  natural  than  that  I  should  bring  you  both 
round  to  the  managing  director  ?" 


62  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"Quite  so,  of  course,"  said  Holmes.  "I  should  like  to 
have  a  look  at  the  gentleman,  and  see  if  I  can  make  anything 
of  his  little  game.  What  qualities  have  you,  my  friend,  which 
would  make  your  services  so  valuable  ?  or  is  it  possible 
that — "  He  began  biting  his  nails  and  staring  blankly  out 
of  the  window,  and  we  hardly  drew  another  word  from  him 
until  we  were  in  New  Street. 

At  seven  o'clock  that  evening  we  were  walking,  the  three 
of  us,  down  Corporation  Street  to  the  company's  offices. 

"  It  is  no  use  our  being  at  all  before  our  time,"  said  our 
client.  "  He  only  comes  there  to  see  me,  apparently,  for  the 
place  is  deserted  up  to  the  very  hour  he  names." 

"That  is  suggestive,"  remarked  Holmes. 

"By  Jove,  I  told  you  so!"  cried  the  clerk.  "That's  he 
walking  ahead  of  us  there." 

He  pointed  to  a  smallish,  dark,  well-dressed  man  who  was 
bustling  along  the  other  side  of  the  road.  As  we  watched 
him  he  looked  across  at  a  boy  who  was  bawling  out  the  latest 
edition  of  the  evening  paper,  and  running  over  among  the 
cabs  and  busses,  he  bought  one  from  him.  Then,  clutching  it 
in  his  hand,  he  vanished  through  a  door-way. 

"There  he  goes!"  cried  Hall  Pycroft.  "These  are  the 
company's  offices  into  which  he  has  gone.  Come  with  me, 
and  I'll  fix  it  up  as  easily  as  possible." 

Following  his  lead,  we  ascended  five  stories,  until  we  found 
ourselves  outside  a  half -opened  door,  at  which  our  client 
tapped.  A  voice  within  bade  us  enter,  and  we  entered  a  bare, 
unfurnished  room  such  as  Hall  Pycroft  had  described.  At 
the  single  table  sat  the  man  whom  we  had  seen  in  the  street, 
with  his  evening  paper  spread  out  in  front  of  him,  and  as  he 
looked  up  at  us  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  never  looked  upon 
a  face  which  bore  such  marks  of  grief,  and  of  something  be- 
yond grief — of  a  horror  such  as  comes  to  few  men  in  a  life- 
time. His  brow  glistened  with  perspiration,  his  cheeks  were 
of  the  dull,  dead  white  of  a  fish's  belly,  and  his  eyes  were  wild 
and  staring.  He  looked  at  his  clerk  as  though  he  failed  to 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  63 

recognize  him,  and  I  could  see  by  the  astonishment  depicted 
upon  our  conductor's  face  that  this  was  by  no  means  the 
usual  appearance  of  his  employer. 

"  You  look  ill,  Mr.  Pinner  !"  he  exclaimed. 

"  Yes,  I  am  not  very  well,"  answered  the  other,  making 
obvious  efforts  to  pull  himself  together,  and  licking  his  dry 
lips  before  he  spoke.  "  Who  are  these  gentlemen  whom  you 
have  brought  with  you  ?" 

"  One  is  Mr.  Harris,  of  Bermondsey,  and  the  other  is  Mr. 
Price,  of  this  town,"  said  our  clerk,  glibly.  "  They  are  friends 
of  mine  and  gentlemen  of  experience,  but  they  have  been  out 
of  a  place  for  some  little  time,  and  they  hoped  that  perhaps 
you  might  find  an  opening  for  them  in  the  company's  employ- 
ment." 

"  Very  possibly !  very  possibly !"  cried  Mr.  Pinner  with  a 
ghastly  smile.  "  Yes,  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  do  something  for  you.  What  is  your  particular  line,  Mr. 
Harris  ?" 

"  I  am  an  accountant,"  said  Holmes. 

"  Ah  yes,  we  shall  want  something  of  the  sort.  And  you, 
Mr.  Price  ?" 

"  A  clerk,"  said  I. 

"  I  have  every  hope  that  the  company  may  accommodate 
you.  I  will  let  you  know  about  it  as  soon  as  we  come  to  any 
conclusion.  And  now  I  beg  that  you  will  go.  For  God's  sake 
leave  me  to  myself  !" 

These  last  words  were  shot  out  of  him,  as  though  the  con- 
straint which  he  was  evidently  setting  upon  himself  had  sud- 
denly and  utterly  burst  asunder.  Holmes  and  I  glanced  at 
each  other,  and  Hall  Pycroft  took  a  step  towards  the  table. 

"  You  forget,  Mr.  Pinner,  that  I  am  here  by  appointment  to 
receive  some  directions  from  you,"  said  he. 

"  Certainly,  Mr.  Pycroft,  certainly,"  the  other  resumed  in  a 
calmer  tone.  "  You  may  wait  here  a  moment ;  and  there  is 
no  reason  why  your  friends  should  not  wait  with  you.  I  will 
be  entirely  at  your  service  in  three  minutes,  if  I  might  tres- 


64  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

pass  upon  your  patience  so  far."  He  rose  with  a  very  court- 
eous air,  and,  bowing  to  us,  he  passed  out  through  a  door  at 
the  farther  end  of  the  room,  which  he  closed  behind  him. 

"  What  now  ?"  whispered  Holmes.  "  Is  he  giving  us  the 
slip  ?" 

"  Impossible,"  answered  Pycroft. 

"  Why  so  ?" 

"  That  door  leads  into  aa  inner  room." 

"  There  is  no  exit  ?" 

"  None." 

"  Is  it  furnished  ?" 

"  It  was  empty  yesterday." 

"  Then  what  on  earth  can  he  be  doing  ?  There  is  some- 
thing which  I  don't  understand  in  this  matter.  If  ever  a  man 
was  three  parts  mad  with  terror,  that  man's  name  is  Pinner- 
What  can  have  put  the  shivers  on  him  ?" 

"  He  suspects  that  we  are  detectives,"  I  suggested. 

"  That's  it,"  cried  Pycroft. 

Holmes  shook  his  head.  "  He  did  not  turn  pale.  He  was 
pale  when  we  entered  the  room,"  said  he.  "  It  is  just  possi- 
ble that—" 

His  words  were  interrupted  by  a  sharp  rat-tat  from  the 
direction  of  the  inner  door. 

"  What  the  deuce  is  he  knocking  at  his  own  door  for  ?" 
cried  the  clerk. 

Again  and  much  louder  came  the  rat-tat-tat.  We  all  gazed 
expectantly  at  the  closed  door.  Glancing  at  Holmes,  I  saw 
his  face  turn  rigid,  and  he  leaned  forward  in  intense  excite- 
ment. Then  suddenly  came  a  low  guggling,  gargling  sound, 
and  a  brisk  drumming  upon  wood-work.  Holmes  sprang  fran- 
tically across  the  room  and  pushed  at  the  door.  It  was  fast- 
ened on  the  inner  side.  Following  his  example,  we  threw  our- 
selves upon  it  with  all  our  weight.  One  hinge  snapped,  then 
the  other,  and  down  came  the  door  with  a  crash.  Rushing 
over  it,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  inner  room.  It  was  empty. 

But  it  was  only  for  a  moment  that  we  were  at  fault.    At  one 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  65 

corner,  the  corner  nearest  the  room  which  we  had  left,  there 
was  a  second  door.  Holmes  sprang  to  it  and  pulled  it  open. 
A  coat  and  waistcoat  were  lying  on  the  floor,  and  from  a  hook 
behind  the  door,  with  his  own  braces  round  his  neck,  was 
hanging  the  managing  director  of  the  Franco-Midland  Hard- 
ware Company.  His  knees  were  drawn  up,  his  head  hung 
at  a  dreadful  angle  to  his  body,  and  the  clatter  of  his  heels 
against  the  door  made  the  noise  which  had  broken  in  upon 
our  conversation.  In  an  instant  I  had  caught  him  round  the 
waist,  and  held  him  up  while  Holmes  and  Pycroft  untied 
the  elastic  bands  which  had  disappeared  between  the  livid 
creases  of  skin.  Then  we  carried  him  into  the  other  room, 
where  he  lay  with  a  clay-colored  face,  puffing  his  purple  lips 
in  and  out  with  every  breath — a  dreadful  wreck  of  all  that 
he  had  been  but  five  minutes  before. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  him,  Watson  ?"  asked  Holmes. 

I  stooped  over  him  and  examined  him.  His  pulse  was 
feeble  and  intermittent,  but  his  breathing  grew  longer,  and 
there  was  a  little  shivering  of  his  eyelids,  which  showed  a 
thin  white  slit  of  ball  beneath. 

"  It  has  been  touch  and  go  with  him,"  said  I, "  but  he'll  live 
now.  Just  open  that  window,  and  hand  me  the  water  carafe." 
I  undid  his  collar,  poured  the  cold  water  over  his  face,  and 
raised  and  sank  his  arms  until  he  drew  a  long,  natural  breath. 
"  It's  only  a  question  of  time  now,"  said  I,  as  I  turned  away 
from  him. 

Holmes  stood  by  the  table,  with  his  hands  deep  in  his 
trousers'  pockets  and  his  chin  upon  his  breast. 

"I  suppose  we  ought  to  call  the  police  in  now,"  said  he. 
"  And  yet  I  confess  that  I'd  like  to  give  them  a  complete  case 
when  they  come." 

"  It's  a  blessed  mystery  to  me,"  cried  Pycroft,  scratching 
his  head.  "  Whatever  they  wanted  to  bring  me  all  the  way 
up  here  for,  and  then — " 

"  Pooh !  All  that  is  clear  enough,"  said  Holmes,  impa- 
tiently. "  It  is  this  last  sudden  move." 


66  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMK3 

"  You  understand  the  rest,  then  ?" 

"  I  think  that  it  is  fairly  obvious.  What  do  you  say,  Wat 
son  ?" 

I  shrugged  my  shoulders.  "  I  must  confess  that  I  am  out 
of  my  depths,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  surely  if  you  consider  the  events  at  first  they  can 
only  point  to  one  conclusion." 

"  What  do  you  make  of  them  ?" 

"  Well,  the  whole  thing  hinges  upon  two  points.  The  first 
is  the  making  of  Pycroft  write  a  declaration  by  which  he  en- 
tered the  service  of  this  preposterous  company.  Do  you  not 
see  how  very  suggestive  that  is  ?" 

"  I  am  afraid  I  miss  the  point." 

"  Well,  why  did  they  want  him  to  do  it  ?  Not  as  a  business 
matter,  for  these  arrangements  are  usually  verbal,  and  there 
was  no  earthly  business  reason  why  this  should  be  an  excep- 
tion. Don't  you  see,  my  young  friend,  that  they  were  very 
anxious  to  obtain  a  specimen  of  your  handwriting,  and  had 
no  other  way  of  doing  it  ?" 

"And  why?" 

"  Quite  so.  Why  ?  When  we  answer  that  we  have  made 
some  progress  with  our  little  problem.  Why  ?  There  can  be 
only  one  adequate  reason.  Some  one  wanted  to  learn  to  imi- 
tate your  writing,  and  had  to  procure  a  specimen  of  it  first. 
And  now  if  we  pass  on  to  the  second  point  we  find  that  each 
throws  light  upon  the  other.  That  point  is  the  request  made 
by  Pinner  that  you  should  not  resign  your  place,  but  should 
leave  the  manager  of  this  important  business  in  the  full  ex- 
pectation that  a  Mr.  Hall  Pycroft,  whom  he  had  never  seen, 
was  about  to  enter  the  office  upon  the  Monday  morning." 

"  My  God !"  cried  our  client,  "  what  a  blind  beetle  I  have 
been !" 

"  Now  you  see  the  point  about  the  handwriting.  Suppose 
that  some  one  turned  up  in  your  place  who  wrote  a  completely 
different  hand  from  that  in  which  you  had  applied  for  the  va- 
cancy, of  course  the  game  would  have  been  up.  But  in  the 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  67 

interval  the  rogue  had  learned  to  imitate  you,  and  his  posi- 
tion was  therefore  secure,  as  I  presume  that  nobody  in  the 
office  had  ever  set  eyes  upon  you." 

"  Not  a  soul,"  groaned  Hall  Pycroft. 

"  Very  good.  Of  course  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  prevent  you  from  thinking  better  of  it,  and  also  to  keep 
you  from  coming  into  contact  with  any  one  who  might  tell 
you  that  your  double  was  at  work  in  Mawson's  office.  There- 
fore they  gave  you  a  handsome  advance  on  your  salary,  and 
ran  you  off  to  the  Midlands,  where  they  gave  you  enough 
work  to  do  to  prevent  your  going  to  London,  where  you  might 
have  burst  their  little  game  up.  That  is  all  plain  enough," 

"  But  why  should  this  man  pretend  to  be  his  own  brother  ?'* 

"  Well,  that  is  pretty  clear  also.  There  are  evidently  only 
two  of  them  in  it.  The  other  is  personating  you  at  the  office. 
This  one  acted  as  your  engager,  and  then  found  that  he  could 
not  find  you  an  employer  without  admitting  a  third  person 
into  his  plot.  That  he  was  most  unwilling  to  do  He  changed 
his  appearance  as  far  as  he  could,  and  trusted  that  the  like- 
ness, which  you  could  not  fail  to  observe,  would  be  put  down 
to  a  family  resemblance.  But  for  the  happy  chance  of  the 
gold  stuffing,  your  suspicions  would  probably  never  have  been 
aroused." 

Hall  Pycroft  shook  his  clinched  hands  in  the  air.  "Good 
Lord  I"  he  cried,  "  while  I  have  been  fooled  in  this  way,  what 
has  this  other  Hall  Pycroft  been  doing  at  Mawson's  ?  What 
should  we  do,  Mr.  Holmes  ?  Tell  me  what  to  do," 

"We  must  wire  to  Mawson's." 

"  They  shut  at  twelve  on  Saturdays." 

"  Never  mind.  There  may  be  some  door-keeper  or  attend 
ant—" 

"  Ah  yes,  they  keep  a  permanent  guard  there  on  account  of 
the  value  of  the  securities  that  they  hold.  I  remember  hear 
ing  it  talked  of  in  the  City." 

"  Very  good ;  we  shall  wire  to  him,  and  see  if  all  is  well, 
and  if  a  clerk  of  your  name  is  working  there.  That  is  clear 


68  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

enough ,  but  what  is  not  so  clear  is  why  at  sight  of  us  one 
of  the  rogues  should  instantly  walk  out  of  the  room  and  hang 
himself." 

"The  paper!"  croaked  a  voice  behind  us.  The  man  was 
sitting  up,  blanched  and  ghastly,  with  returning  reason  in  his 
eyes,  and  hands  which  rubbed  nervously  at  the  broad  red 
band  which  still  encircled  his  throat. 

"  The  paper  !  Of  course  !"  yelled  Holmes,  in  a  paroxysm 
of  excitement.  "  Idiot  that  I  was  !  I  thought  so  much  of  our 
visit  that  the  paper  never  entered  my  head  for  an  instant.  To 
be  sure,  the  secret  must  lie  there."  He  flattened  it  out  upon 
the  table,  and  a  cry  of  triumph  burst  from  his  lips.  "  Look 
at  this,  Watson,"  he  cried.  "  It  is  a  London  paper,  an  early 
edition  of  the  Evening  Standard.  Here  is  what  we  want. 
Look  at  the  head-lines  :  '  Crime  in  the  City.  Murder  at 
Mawson  &  Williams's.  Gigantic  attempted  Robbery.  Capt- 
ure of  the  Criminal.'  Here,  Watson,  we  are  all  equally  anx- 
ious to  hear  it,  so  kindly  read  it  aloud  to  us." 

It  appeared  from  its  position  in  the  paper  to  have  been  the 
one  event  of  importance  in  town,  and  the  account  of  it  ran  in 
this  way : 

"  A  desperate  attempt  at  robbery,  culminating  in  the  death 
of  one  man  and  the  capture  of  the  criminal,  occurred  this 
afternoon  in  the  City.  For  some  time  back  Mawson  &  Will- 
iams, the  famous  financial  house,  have  been  the  guardians  of 
securities  which  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  a  sum  of  consid- 
erably over  a  million  sterling.  So  conscious  was  the  man- 
ager of  the  responsibility  which  devolved  upon  him  in  conse- 
quence of  the  great  interests  at  stake  that  safes  of  the  very 
latest  construction  have  been  employed,  and  an  armed  watch- 
man has  been  left  day  and  night  in  the  building.  It  appears 
that  last  week  a  new  clerk  named  Hall  Pycroft  was  engaged 
by  the  firm.  This  person  appears  to  have  been  none  other 
than  Beddington,  the  famous  forger  and  cracksman,  who,  with 
his  brother,  has  only  recently  emerged  from  a  five  years'  spell 
of  penal  servitude.  By  some  means,  which  are  not  yet  clear. 


THE  STOCK-BROKER'S  CLERK  69 

he  succeeded  in  winning,  under  a  false  name,  this  official  posi- 
tion in  the  office,  which  he  utilized  in  order  to  obtain  mould- 
ings of  various  locks,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  posi- 
tion of  the  strong-room  and  the  safes. 

"It  is  customary  at  Mawson's  for  the  clerks  to  leave  at 
mid-day  on  Saturday.  Sergeant  Tuson,  of  the  City  Police, 
was  somewhat  surprised,  therefore,  to  see  a  gentleman  with 
a  carpet-bag  come  down  the  steps  at  twenty  minutes  past 
one.  His  suspicions  being  aroused,  the  sergeant  followed 
the  man,  and  with  the  aid  of  Constable  Pollock  succeeded, 
after  a  most  desperate  resistance,  in  arresting  him.  It  was  at 
once  clear  that  a  daring  and  gigantic  robbery  had  been  conv 
mitted.  Nearly  a  hundred  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  Amer- 
ican railway  bonds,  with  a  large  amount  of  scrip  in  mines  and 
other  companies,  was  discovered  in  the  bag.  On  examining 
the  premises  the  body  of  the  unfortunate  watchman  was  found 
doubled  up  and  thrust  into  the  largest  of  the  safes,  where  it 
would  not  have  been  discovered  until  Monday  morning  had 
it  not  been  for  the  prompt  action  of  Sergeant  Tuson.  The 
man's  skull  had  been  shattered  by  a  blow  from  a  poker  de- 
livered from  behind.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  Bedding- 
ton  had  obtained  entrance  by  pretending  that  he  had  left 
something  behind  him,  and  having  murdered  the  watchman, 
rapidly  rifled  the  large  safe,  and  then  made  off  with  his  booty. 
His  brother,  who  usually  works  with  him,  has  not  appeared  in 
this  job  as  far  as  can  at  present  be  ascertained,  although  the 
police  are  making  energetic  inquiries  as  to  his  whereabouts." 

"Well,  we  may  save  the  police  some  little  trouble  in  that 
direction,"  said  Holmes,  glancing  at  the  haggard  figure  hud- 
dled up  by  the  window.  "  Human  nature  is  a  strange  mixt- 
ure, Watson.  You  see  that  even  a  villain  and  murderer  can 
inspire  such  affection  that  his  brother  turns  to  suicide  when 
he  learns  that  his  neck  is  forfeited.  However,  we  have  no 
choice  as  to  our  action.  The  doctor  and  I  will  remain  on 
guard,  Mr.  Pycroft,  if  you  will  have  the  kindness  to  step  out 
for  the  police." 


Stocnture 

THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT" 

HAVE  some  papers  here,"  said  my  friend  Sher- 
lock Holmes,  as  we  sat  one  winter's  night  on 
either  side  of  the  fire,  "  which  I  really  think, 
Watson,  that  it  would  be  worth  your  while  to 
glance  over.     These  are  the  documents  in  the 
extraordinary  case  of  the  Gloria  Scott,  and  this  is  the  mes- 
sage which  struck  Justice  of  the  Peace  Trevor  dead  with  hor- 
ror when  he  read  it." 

He  had  picked  from  a  drawer  a  little  tarnished  cylinder, 
and,  undoing  the  tape,  he  handed  me  a  short  note  scrawled 
upon  a  half-sheet  of  slate-gray  paper. 

"The  supply  of  game  for  London  is  going  steadily  up,"  it 
ran.  "  Head-keeper  Hudson,  we  believe,  has  been  now  told 
to  receive  all  orders  for  fly-paper  and  for  preservation  of  your 
hen-pheasant's  life." 

As  I  glanced  up  from  reading  this  enigmatical  message,  I 
saw  Holmes  chuckling  at  the  expression  upon  my  face. 

"  You  look  a  little  bewildered,"  said  he. 

"  I  cannot  see  how  such  a  message  as  this  could  inspire 
horror.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  rather  grotesque  than  other- 
wise." 

"Very  likely.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  reader,  who 
was  a  fine,  robust  old  man,  was  knocked  clean  down  by  it  as 
if  it  had  been  the  butt  end  of  a  pistol." 

"  You  arouse  my  curiosity,"  said  I.  "  But  why  did  you  say 
just  now  that  there  were  very  particular  reasons  why  I  should 
study  this  case  ?" 


THE    "  GLORIA   SCOTT  "  71 

"  Because  it  was  the  first  in  which  I  was  ever  engaged." 

I  had  often  endeavored  to  elicit  from  my  companion  what 
had  first  turned  his  mind  in  the  direction  of  criminal  re- 
search, but  had  never  caught  him  before  in  a  communicative 
humor.  Now  he  sat  forward  in  his  arm-chair  and  spread  out 
the  documents  upon  his  knees.  Then  he  lit  his  pipe  and  sat 
for  some  time  smoking  and  turning  them  over. 

"  You  never  heard  me  talk  of  Victor  Trevor  ?"  he  asked. 
"  He  was  the  only  friend  I  made  during  the  two  years  I  was 
at  college.  I  was  never  a  very  sociable  fellow,  Watson,  always 
rather  fond  of  moping  in  my  rooms  and  working  out  my  own 
little  methods  of  thought,  so  that  I  never  mixed  much  with  the 
men  of  my  year.  Bar  fencing  and  boxing  I  had  few  athletic 
tastes,  and  then  my  line  of  study  was  quite  distinct  from  that 
of  the  other  fellows,  so  that  we  had  no  points  of  contact  at 
all.  Trevor  was  the  only  man  I  knew,  and  that  only  through 
the  accident  of  his  bull  terrier  freezing  on  to  my  ankle  one 
morning  as  I  went  down  to  chapel. 

"  It  was  a  prosaic  way  of  forming  a  friendship,  but  it  was 
effective.  I  was  laid  by  the  heels  for  ten  days,  and  Trevor 
used  to  come  in  to  inquire  after  me.  At  first  it  was  only  a 
minute's  chat,  but  soon  his  visits  lengthened,  and  before  the 
end  of  the  term  we  were  close  friends.  He  was  a  hearty, 
full-blooded  fellow,  full  of  spirits  and  energy,  the  very  oppo- 
site to  me  in  most  respects,  but  we  had  some  subjects  in 
common,  and  it  was  a  bond  of  union  when  I  found  that  he 
was  as  friendless  as  I.  Finally,  he  invited  me  down  to  his 
father's  place  at  Donnithorpe,  in  Norfolk,  and  I  accepted  his 
hospitality  for  a  month  of  the  long  vacation. 

"Old  Trevor  was  evidently  a  man  of  some  wealth  and 
consideration,  a  J.  P.,  and  a  landed  proprietor.  Donnithorpe 
is  a  little  hamlet  just  to  the  north  of  Langmere,  in  the  country 
of  the  Broads.  The  house  was  an  old-fashioned,  wide-spread, 
oak-beamed  brick  building,  with  a  fine  lime-lined  avenue  lead- 
ing up  to  it.  There  was  excellent  wild-duck  shooting  in  the 
fens,  remarkably  good  fishing,  a  small  but  select  library,  taken 


72  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

over,  as  I  understood,  from  a  former  occupant,  and  a  tolerable 
cook,  so  that  he  would  be  a  fastidious  man  who  could  not  put 
in  a  pleasant  ir.onth  there. 

"Trevor  senior  was  a  widower,  and  my  friend  his  only 
son. 

"There  had  been  a  daughter,  I  heard,  but  she  had  died  of 
diphtheria  while  on  a  visit  to  Birmingham.  The  father  inter- 
ested me  extremely.  He  was  a  man  of  little  culture,  but  with 
a  considerable  amount  of  rude  strength,  both  physically  and 
mentally.  He  knew  hardly  any  books,  but  he  had  travelled 
far,  had  seen  much  of  the  world,  and  had  remembered  all 
that  he  had  learned.  In  person  he  was  a  thick-set,  burly  man 
with  a  shock. of  grizzled  hair,  a  brown,  weather-beaten  face, 
and  blue  eves  which  were  keen  to  the  verge  of  fierceness. 
Yet  he  had  a  reputation  for  kindness  and  charity  on  the 
country-side,  and  was  noted  for  the  leniency  of  his  sentences 
from  the  bench. 

"  One  evening,  shortly  after  my  arrival,  we  were  sitting  over 
a  glass  of  port  after  dinner,  when  young  Trevor  began  to  talk 
about  those  habits  of  observation  and  inference  which  I  had 
already  formed  into  a  system,  although  I  had  not  yet  appre- 
ciated the  part  which  they  were  to  play  in  my  life.  The 
old  man  evidently  thought  that  his  son  was  exaggerating  in 
his  description  of  one  or  two  trivial  feats  which  I  had  per- 
formed. 

" '  Come,  now,  Mr.  Holmes,'  said  he,  laughing  good  -  hu- 
moredly.  '  I'm  an  excellent  subject,  if  you  can  deduce  any- 
thing from  me.' 

" '  I  fear  there  is  not  very  much,'  I  answered  ;  '  I  might 
suggest  that  you  have  gone  about  in  fear  of  some  personal 
attack  within  the  last  twelvemonth.' 

"The  laugh  faded  from  his  lips,  and  he  stared  at  me  in 
great  surprise. 

" '  Well,  that's  true  enough,'  said  he.  '  You  know,  Victor,' 
turning  to  his  son,  'when  we  broke  up  that  poaching  gang 
they  swore  to  knife  us,  and  Sir  Edward  Holly  has  actually 


THE    "  GLORIA    SCOTT  "  73 

been  attacked.  I've  always  been  on  my  guard  since  then, 
though  I  have  no  idea  how  you  know  it.' 

" '  You  have  a  very  handsome  stick,'  I  answered.  '  By  the 
inscription  I  observed  that  you  had  not  had  it  more  than 
a  year.  But  you  have  taken  some  pains  to  bore  the  head 
of  it  and  pour  melted  lead  into  the  hole  so  as  to  make  it  a 
[formidable  weapon.  I  argued  that  you  would  not  take  such 
'precautions  unless  you  had  some  danger  to  fear.' 

" '  Anything  else  ?'  he  asked,  smiling. 

" '  You  have  boxed  a  good  deal  in  your  youth.' 

" '  Right  again.  How  did  you  know  it  ?  Is  my  nose 
knocked  a  little  out  of  the  straight  ?' 

" '  No,'  said  I.  '  It  is  your  ears.  They  have  the  peculiar 
flattening  and  thickening  which  marks  the  boxing  man.' 

" '  Anything  else  ?' 

"'You  have  done  a  good  deal  of  digging  by  your  cal- 
losities.' 

" '  Made  all  my  money  at  the  gold  fields.' 

" '  You  have  been  in  New  Zealand.' 

" ' Right  again.' 

" '  You  have  visited  Japan.' 

" « Quite  true.' 

" '  And  you  have  been  most  intimately  associated  with  some 
one  whose  initials  were  J.  A.,  and  whom  you  afterwards  were 
eager  to  entirely  forget.' 

"  Mr.  Trevor  stood  slowly  up,  fixed  his  large  blue  eyes  upon 
me  with  a  strange  wild  stare,  and  then  pitched  forward,  with 
jhis  face  among  the  nutshells  which  strewed  the  cloth,  in  a 
dead  faint. 

"  You  can  imagine,  Watson,  how  shocked  both  his  son  and 
I  were.  His  attack  did  not  last  long,  however,  for  when  we 
undid  his  collar,  and  sprinkled  the  water  from  one  of  the  fin- 
ger-glasses over  his  face,  he  gave  a  gasp  or  two  and  sat  up. 

" '  Ah,  boys,'  said  he,  forcing  a  smile,  '  I  hope  I  haven't 
frightened  you.  Strong  as  I  look,  there  is  a  weak  place  in  my 
heart,  and  it  does  not  take  much  to  knock  me  over.  I  don't 


74  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

know  how  you  manage  this,  Mr.  Holmes,  but  it  seems  to  me 
that  all  the  detectives  of  fact  and  of  fancy  would  be  children 
in  your  hands.  That's  your  line  of  life,  sir,  and  you  may  take 
the  word  of  a  man  who  has  seen  something  of  the  world.' 

"  And  that  recommendation,  with  the  exaggerated  estimate 
of  my  ability  with  which  he  prefaced  it,  was,  if  you  will  believe 
me,  Watson,  the  very  first  thing  which  ever  made  me  feel  that 
a  profession  might  be  made  out  of  what  had  up  to  that  time 
been  the  merest  hobby.  At  the  moment,  however,  I  was  too 
much  concerned  at  the  sudden  illness  of  my  host  to  think  of 
anything  else. 

" '  I  hope  that  I  have  said  nothing  to  pain  you  ?'  said  I. 

" '  Well,  you  certainly  touched  upon  rather  a  tender  point 
Might  I  ask  how  you  know,  and  how  much  you  know?'  He 
spoke  now  in  a  half-jesting  fashion,  but  a  look  of  terror  still 
lurked  at  the  back  of  his  eyes. 

"  '  It  is  simplicity  itself,'  said  I.  '  When  you  bared  your 
arm  to  draw  that  fish  into  the  boat  I  saw  that  J.  A.  had  been 
tattooed  in  the  bend  of  the  elbow.  The  letters  were  still 
legible,  but  it  was  perfectly  clear  from  their  blurred  appear- 
ance, and  from  the  staining  of  the  skin  round  them,  that 
efforts  had  been  made  to  obliterate  them.  It  was  obvious, 
then,  that  those  initials  had  once  been  very  familiar  to  you, 
and  that  you  had  afterwards  wished  to  forget  them.' 

" '  What  an  eye  you  have !'  he  cried,  with  a  sigh  of  relief. 
'  It  is  just  as  you  say.  But  we  won't  talk  of  it.  Of  all  ghosts 
the  ghosts  of  our  old  lovers  are  the  worst.  Come  into  the 
billiard-room  and  have  a  quiet  cigar.' 

"  From  that  day,  amid  all  his  cordiality,  there  was  always 
a  touch  of  suspicion  in  Mr.  Trevor's  manner  towards  me. 
Even  his  son  remarked  it.  '  You've  given  the  governor  such 
a  turn,'  said  he,  '  that  he'll  never  be  sure  again  of  what  you 
know  and  what  you  don't  know.'  He  did  not  mean  to  show 
it,  I  am  sure,  but  it  was  so  strongly  in  his  mind  that  it  peeped 
out  at  every  action.  At  last  I  became  so  convinced  that  I 


THE    "  GLORIA    SCOTT  "  75 

was  causing  him  uneasiness  that  I  drew  my  visit  to  a  close. 
On  the  very  day,  however,  before  I  left,  an  incident  occurred 
which  proved  in  the  sequel  to  be  of  importance. 

"  We  were  sitting  out  upon  the  lawn  on  garden  chairs,  the 
three  of  us,  basking  in  the  sun  and  admiring  the  view  across 
the  Broads,  when  a  maid  came  out  to  say  that  there  was  a 
man  at  the  door  who  wanted  to  see  Mr.  Trevor. 

"  '  What  is  his  name  ?'  asked  my  host. 

"  '  He  would  not  give  any.' 

" '  What  does  he  want,  then  ?' 

" '  He  says  that  you  know  him,  and  that  he  only  wants  a 
moment's  conversation.' 

" '  Show  him  round  here.'  An  instant  afterwards  there  ap- 
peared a  little  wizened  fellow  with  a  cringing  manner  and  a 
shambling  style  of  walking.  He  wore  an  open  jacket,  with 
a  splotch  of  tar  on  the  sleeve,  a  red-and-black  check  shirt, 
dungaree  trousers,  and  heavy  boots  badly  worn.  His  face 
was  thin  and  brown  and  crafty,  with  a  perpetual  smile  upon 
it,  which  showed  an  irregular  line  of  yellow  teeth,  and  his 
crinkled  hands  were  half  closed  in  a  way  that  is  distinctive 
of  sailors.  As  he  came  slouching  across  the  lawn  I  heard 
Mr.  Trevor  make  a  sort  of  hiccoughing  noise  in  his  throat, 
and,  jumping  out  of  his  chair,  he  ran  into  the  house.  He 
was  back  in  a  moment,  and  I  smelt  a  strong  reek  of  brandy 
as  he  passed  me. 

"  '  Well,  my  man,'  said  he.     'What  can  I  do  for  you  ?' 

"The  sailor  stood  looking  at  him  with  puckered  eyes,  and 
with  the  same  loose-lipped  smile  upon  his  face. 

" '  You  don't  know  me  ?'  he  asked. 

" '  Why,  dear  me,  it  is  surely  Hudson,'  said  Mr.  Trevor  in  a 
tone  of  surprise. 

"'Hudson  it  is,  sir,'  said  the  seaman.  'Why,  it's  thirty 
year  and  more  since  I  saw  you  last.  Here  you  are  in  your 
house,  and  me  still  picking  my  salt  meat  out  of  the  harness 
cask.' 

" '  Tut,  you  will  find  that  I  have  not  forgotten  old  times,' 


76  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

cried  Mr.  Trevor,  and,  walking  towards  the  sailor,  he  said 
something  in  a  low  voice.  'Go  into  the  kitchen,'  he  con- 
tinued out  loud,  '  and  you  will  get  food  and  drink.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  I  shall  find  you  a  situation.' 

"'Thank  you,  sir,''  said  the  seaman,  touching  his  forelock. 
'  I'm  just  off  a  two-yearer  in  an  eight-knot  tramp,  short-hand- 
ed at  that,  and  I  wants  a  rest.  I  thought  I'd  get  it  either 
with  Mr.  Beddoes  or  with  you.' 

" '  Ah  !'  cried  Mr.  Trevor.  '  You  know  where  Mr.  Beddoes 
is?' 

" '  Bless  you,  sir,  I  know  where  all  my  old  friends  are,'  said 
the  fellow  with  a  sinister  smile,  and  he  slouched  off  after  the 
maid  to  the  kitchen.  Mr.  Trevor  mumbled  something  to  us 
about  having  been  shipmate  with  the  man  when  he  was  going 
back  to  the  diggings,  and  then,  leaving  us  on  the  lawn,  he 
went  indoors.  An  hour  later,  when  we  entered  the  house,  we 
found  him  stretched  dead  drunk  upon  the  dining-room  sofa. 
The  whole  incident  left  a  most  ugly  impression  upon  my 
mind,  and  I  was  not  sorry  next  day  to  leave  Donnithorpe 
behind  me,  for  I  felt  that  my  presence  must  be  a  source  of 
embarrassment  to  my  friend. 

"  All  this  occurred  during  the  first  month  of  the  long  vaca- 
tion. I  went  up  to  my  London  rooms,  where  I  spent  seven 
weeks  working  out  a  few  experiments  in  organic  chemistry. 
One  day,  however,  when  the  autumn  was  far  advanced  and 
the  vacation  drawing  to  a  close,  I  received  a  telegram  from 
my  friend  imploring  me  to  return  to  Donnithorpe,  and  saying 
that  he  was  in  great  need  of  my  advice  and  assistance.  Of 
course  I  dropped  everything  and  set  out  for  the  North  once 
more. 

"  He  met  me  with  the  dog-cart  at  the  station,  and  I  saw  at 
a  glance  that  the  last  two  months  had  been  very  trying  ones 
for  him.  He  had  grown  thin  and  careworn,  and  had  lost  the 
loud,  cheery  manner  for  which  he  had  been  remarkable. 

"  '  The  governor  is  dying,'  were  the  first  words  he  said. 

" '  Impossible !'  I  cried.     '  What  is  the  matter  ?' 


THE   "GLORIA   SCOTT "  77 

" '  Apoplexy.  Nervous  shock.  He's  been  on  the  verge  all 
day.  I  doubt  if  we  shall  find  him  alive.' 

"  I  was,  as  you  may  think,  Watson,  horrified  at  this  unex- 
pected news. 

" '  What  has  caused  it  ?'  I  asked. 

" '  Ah,  that  is  the  point.  Jump  in  and  we  can  talk  it  over 
while  we  drive.  You  remember  that  fellow  who  came  upon 
the  evening  before  you  left  us  ?' 

" '  Perfectly.' 

" '  Do  you  know  who  it  was  that  we  let  into  the  house  that 
day?' 

"  '  I  have  no  idea.' 

"  '  It  was  the  devil,  Holmes,'  he  cried. 

"  I  stared  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  '  Yes,  it  was  the  devil  himself.  We  have  not  had  a  peace- 
ful hour  since — not  one.  The  governor  has  never  held  up  his 
head  from  that  evening,  and  now  the  life  has  been  crushed 
out  of  him  and  his  heart  broken,  all  through  this  accursed 
Hudson.' 

"  '  What  power  had  he,  then  ?* 

" '  Ah,  that  is  what  I  would  give  so  much  to  know.  The 
kindly,  charitable,  good  old  governor — how  could  he  have 
fallen  into  the  clutches  of  such  a  ruffian !  But  I  am  so  glad 
that  you  have  come,  Holmes.  I  trust  very  much  to  your 
judgment  and  discretion,  and  I  kn^^v  that  you  will  advise  me 
for  the  best.' 

"We  were  dashing  along  the  smooth  white  country  road- 
with  the  long  stretch  of  the  Broads  in  front  of  us  glimmering 
in  the  red  light  of  the  setting  sun.  From  a  grove  upon  our 
left  I  could  already  see  the  high  chimneys  and  the  flag-staff 
which  marked  the  squire's  dwelling. 

" '  My  father  made  the  fellow  gardener,'  said  my  compan- 
ion, '  and  then,  as  that  did  not  satisfy  him,  he  was  promoted 
to  be  butler.  The  house  seemed  to  be  at  his  mercy,  and  he 
wandered  about  and  did  what  he  chose  in  it.  The  maids 
complained  of  his  drunken  habits  and  his  vile  language.  The 


78  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMKS 

dad  raised  their  wages  all  round  to  recompense  them  for 
the  annoyance.  The  fellow  would  take  the  boat  and  my  fa- 
ther's best  gun  and  treat  himself  to  little  shooting  trips. 
And  all  this  with  such  a  sneering,  leering,  insolent  face  that  I 
would  have  knocked  him  down  twenty  times  over  if  he  had 
been  a  man  of  my  own  age.  I  tell  you,  Holmes,  I  have  had 
to  keep  a  tight  hold  upon  myself  all  this  time  ;  and  now  I  am 
asking  myself  whether,  if  I  had  let  myself  go  a  little  more,  I 
might  not  have  been  a  wiser  man. 

*' '  Well,  matters  went  from  bad  to  worse  with  us,  and  this 
animal  Hudson  became  more  and  more  intrusive,  until  at  last, 
on  his  making  some  insolent  reply  to  my  father  in  my  pres- 
ence one  day,  I  took  him  by  the  shoulders  and  turned  him  out 
of  the  room.  He  slunk  away  with  a  livid  face  and  two  ven- 
omous eyes  which  uttered  more  threats  than  his  tongue  could 
do.  I  don't  know  what  passed  between  the  poor  dad  and 
him  after  that,  but  the  dad  came  to  me  next  day  and  asked 
me  whether  I  would  mind  apologizing  to  Hudson.  I  refused, 
as  you  can  imagine,  and  asked  my  father  how  he  could  allow 
such  a  wretch  to  take  such  liberties  with  himself  and  his 
household. 

" ' "  Ah,  my  boy,"  said  he,  "  it  is  all  very  well  to  talk,  but 
you  don't  know  how  I  am  placed.  But  you  shall  know,  Victor. 
I'll  see  that  you  shall  know,  come  what  may.  You  wouldn't 
believe  harm  of  your  poor  old  father,  would  you,  lad?"  He 
was  very  much  moved,  and  shut  himself  up  in  the  study  all 
day,  where  I  could  see  through  the  window  that  he  was  writ- 
ing busily. 

" '  That  evening  there  came  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a 
grand  release,  for  Hudson  told  us  that  he  was  going  to  leave 
us.  He  walked  into  the  dining-room  as  we  sat  after  dinner, 
and  announced  his  intention  in  the  thick  voice  of  a  half- 
drunken  man. 

" ' "  I've  had  enough  of  Norfolk,"  said  he.  "  I'll  run  dowa 
to  Mr.  Beddoes  in  Hampshire.  He'll  be  as  glad  to  see  me  as 
you  were,  I  dare  sav." 


THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT"  79 

""'You're  not  going  away  in  an  unkind  spirit,  Hudson,  I 
hope,"  said  my  father,  with  a  tameness  which  made  my  blood 
boil. 

" '  "  I've  not  had  my  'pology,"  said  he  sulkily,  glancing  in 
my  direction. 

" ' "  Victor,  you  will  acknowledge  that  you  have  used  this 
•worthy  fellow  rather  roughly,"  said  the  dad,  turning  to  me. 

" ' "  On  the  contrary,  I  think  that  we  have  both  shown  ex- 
traordinary patience  towards  him,"  I  answered. 

"  '  "  Oh,  you  do,  do  you  ?"  he  snarled.  "  Very  good,  mate. 
We'll  see  about  that !" 

"  '  He  slouched  out  of  the  room,  and  half  an  hour  afterwards 
left  the  house,  leaving  my  father  in  a  state  of  pitiable  nervous- 
ness. Night  after  night  I  heard  him  pacing  his  room,  and  it 
was  just  as  he  was  recovering  his  confidence  that  the  blow 
did  at  last  fall.' 

"  '  And  how  ?'  I  asked  eagerly. 

'"In  a  most  extraordinary  fashion.  A  letter  arrived  for 
my  father  yesterday  evening,  bearing  the  Fordingbridge  post- 
mark. My  father  read  it,  clapped  both  his  hands  to  his  head, 
and  began  running  round  the  room  in  little  circles  like  a  man 
who  has  been  driven  out  of  his  senses.  When  I  at  last  drew 
him  down  on  to  the  sofa,  his  mouth  and  eyelids  were  all  puck- 
ered on  one  side,  and  I  saw  that  he  had  a  stroke.  Dr. 
Fordham  came  over  at  once.  We  put  him  to  bed ,  but  the 
paralysis  has  spread,  he  has  shown  no  sign  of  returning  con- 
sciousness, and  I  think  that  we  shall  hardly  find  him  alive.' 

" '  You  horrify  me,  Trevor !'  I  cried.  '  What  then  could 
have  been  in  this  letter  to  cause  so  dreadful  a  result  ?' 

" '  Nothing.  There  lies  the  inexplicable  part  of  it.  The 
message  was  absurd  and  trivial.  Ah,  my  God,  it  is  as  I 
feared !' 

"  As  he  spoke  we  came  round  the  curve  of  the  avenue,  and 
saw  in  the  fading  light  that  every  blind  in  the  house  had  been 
drawn  down.  As  we  dashed  up  to  the  door,  my  friend's  face 
convulsed  with  grief,  a  gentleman  in  black  emerged  from  it. 


S«  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

" '  When  did  it  happen,  doctor  ?'  asked  Trevor. 

" '  Almost  immediately  after  you  left.' 

" '  Did  he  recover  consciousness  ?' 

"  '  For  an  instant  before  the  end.' 

" '  Any  message  for  me  ?' 

"'Only  that  the  papers  were  in  the  back  drawer  of  the 
/apanese  cabinet.' 

"  My  friend  ascended  with  the  doctor  to  the  chamber  of 
death,  while  I  remained  in  the  study,  turning  the  whale  matter 
over  and  over  in  my  head,  and  feeling  as  sombre  as  ever  I  had 
done  in  my  life.  What  was  the  past  of  this  Trevor,  pugilist, 
traveller,  and  gold-digger,  and  how  had  he  placed  himself  in 
the  power  of  this  acid-faced  seaman  ?  Why,  too,  should  he 
faint  at  an  allusion  to  the  half-effaced  initials  upon  his  arm, 
and  die  of  fright  when  he  had  a  letter  from  Fordingham  ? 
Then  I  remembered  that  Fordingham  was  in  Hampshire,  and 
that  this  Mr.  Beddoes,  whom  the  seaman  had  gone  to  visit 
and  presumably  to  blackmail,  had  also  been  mentioned  as  liv- 
ing in  Hampshire.  The  letter,  then,  might  either  come  from 
Hudson,  the  seaman,  saying  that  he  had  betrayed  the  guilty 
secret  which  appeared  to  exist,  or  it  might  come  from  Bed- 
does,  warning  an  old  confederate  that  such  a  betrayal  was  im- 
minent. So  far  it  seemed  clear  enough.  But  then  how  could 
this  letter  be  trivial  and  grotesque,  as  described  by  the  son  ? 
He  must  have  misread  it.  If  so,  it  must  have  been  one  of 
those  ingenious  secret  codes  which  mean  one  thing  while  they 
aeem  to  mean  another.  I  must  see  this  letter.  If  there  were 
a  hidden  meaning  in  it,  I  was  confident  that  I  could  pluck  it 
forth.  For  an  hour  I  sat  pondering  over  it  in  the  gloom,  until 
at  last  a  weeping  maid  brought  in  a  lamp,  and  close  at  her 
heels  came  my  friend  Trevor,  pale  but  composed,  with  these 
very  papers  which  lie  upon  my  knee  held  in  his  grasp.  He 
sat  down  opposite  to  me,  drew  the  lamp  to  the  edge  of  the 
table,  and  handed  me  a  short  note  scribbled,  as  you  see,  upon 
a  single  sheet  of  gray  paper.  '  The  supply  of  game  for  Lon- 
don is  going  steadily  up,'  it  ran.  *  Head-keeper  Hudson,  we 


THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT"  81 

believe,  has  been  now  told  to  receive  all  orders  for  fly-paper 
and  for  preservation  of  your  hen-pheasant's  life.' 

"  I  dare  say  my  face  looked  as  bewildered  as  yours  did  just 
now  when  first  I  read  this  message.  Then  I  reread  it  very 
carefully.  It  was  evidently  as  I  had  thought,  and  some  secret 
meaning  must  lie  buried  in  this  strange  combination  of  words. 
Or  could  it  be  that  there  was  a  prearranged  significance 
to  such  phrases  as  '  fly-paper '  and  '  hen-pheasant '  ?  Such  a 
meaning  would  be  arbitrary  and  could  not  be  deduced  in  any 
way.  And  yet  I  was  loath  to  believe  that  this  was  the  case, 
and  the  presence  of  the  word  Hudson  seemed  to  show  that 
the  subject  of  the  message  was  as  I  had  guessed,  and  that  it 
was  from  Beddoes  rather  than  the  sailor.  I  tried  it  back- 
wards, but  the  combination  '  life  pheasant's  hen '  was  not  en- 
couraging. Then  I  tried  alternate  words,  but  neither  '  the  of 
for'  nor  'supply  game  London'  promised  to  throw  any  light 
upon  it. 

"And  then  in  an  instant  the  key  of  the  riddle  was  in  my 
hands,  and  I  saw  that  every  third  word,  beginning  with  the 
first,  would  give  a  message  which  might  well  drive  old  Trevor 
to  despair. 

"  It  was  short  and  terse,  the  warning,  as  I  now  read  it  to 
my  companion  • 

" '  The  game  is  up.  Hudson  has  told  all.  Fly  for  your 
life.' 

"  Victor  Trevor  sank  his  face  into  his  shaking  hands.  '  It 
must  be  that,  I  suppose,'  said  he.  '  This  is  worse  than  death, 
for  it  means  disgrace  as  well.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of 
these  "head-keepers"  and  "hen-pheasants"?' 

" '  It  means  nothing  to  the  message,  but  it  might  mean  a 
good  deal  to  us  if  we  had  no  other  means  of  discovering  the 
sender.  You  see  that  he  has  begun  by  writing  "The  ,  . 
game  .  .  .  is,"  and  so  on.  Afterwards  he  had,  to  fulfil  the 
prearranged  cipher,  to  fill  in  any  two  words  in  each  space. 
He  would  naturally  use  the  first  words  which  came  to  his 
mind,  and  if  there  were  so  many  which  referred  to  sport 


82  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

among  them,  you  may  be  tolerably  sure  that  he  is  either  an 
ardent  shot  or  interested  in  breeding.  Do  you  know  any- 
thing of  this  Beddoes  ?' 

"'Why,  now  that  you  mention  it,'  said  he,  'I  remember 
that  my  poor  father  used  to  have  an  invitation  from  him  to 
shoot  over  his  preserves  every  autumn.' 

'"Then  it  is  undoubtedly  from  him  that  the  note  comes,' 
said  I.  '  It  only  remains  for  us  to  find  out  what  this  secret 
was  which  the  sailor  Hudson  seems  to  have  held  over  the 
heads  of  these  two  wealthy  and  respected  men.' 

"  *  Alas,  Holmes,  I  fear  that  it  is  one  of  sin  and  shame !' 
cried  my  friend.  '  But  from  you  I  shall  have  no  secrets. 
Here  is  the  statement  which  was  drawn  up  by  my  father 
when  he  knew  that  the  danger  from  Hudson  had  become 
imminent.  I  found  it  in  the  Japanese  cabinet,  as  he  told  the 
doctor.  Take  it  and  read  it  to  me,  for  I  have  neither  the 
strength  nor  the  courage  to  do  it  myself.' 

"These  are  the  very  papers,  Watson,  which  he  handed  to 
me,  and  I  will  read  them  to  you,  as  I  read  them  in  the  old 
study  that  night  to  him.  They  are  endorsed  outside,  as  you 
see,  '  Some  particulars  of  the  voyage  of  the  bark  Gloria  Scott, 
from  her  leaving  Falmouth  on  the  8th  October,  1855,  to  her 
destruction  in  N.  Lat.  15°  20',  W.  Long.  25°  14',  on  Nov.  6th.' 
It  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  and  runs  in  this  way : 

" '  My  dear,  dear  son,  now  that  approaching  disgrace  be- 
gins to  darken  the  closing  years  of  my  life,  I  can  write  with 
all  truth  and  honesty  that  it  is  not  the  terror  of  the  law,  it  is 
not  the  loss  of  my  position  in  the  county,  nor  is  it  my  fall  in 
the  eyes  of  all  who  have  known  me,  which  cuts  me  to  the 
heart ;  but  it  is  the  thought  that  you  should  come  to  blush  for 
me — you  who  love  me  and  who  have  seldom,  I  hope,  had  rea- 
son to  do  other  than  respect  me.  But  if  the  blow  falls  which 
is  forever  hanging  over  me,  then  I  should  wish  you  to  read 
this,  that  you  may  know  straight  from  me  how  far  I  have  been 
to  blame.  On  the  other  hand,  if  all  should  go  well  (which 
may  kind  God  Almighty  grant !),  then,  if  by  any  chance  this 


THE    "GLORIA  SCOTT"  83 

paper  should  be  still  undestroyed  and  should  fall  into  youi 
hands,  I  conjure  you,  by  all  you  hold  sacred,  by  the  memory 
of  your  dear  mother,  and  by  the  love  which  has  been  between 
us,  to  hurl  it  into  the  fire  and  to  never  give  one  thought  to  it 
again. 

" '  If  then  your  eye  goes  on  to  read  this  line,  I  know  that  I 
shall  already  have  been  exposed  and  dragged  from  my  home, 
or,  as  is  more  likely,  for  you  know  that  my  heart  is  weak,  be 
lying  with  my  tongue  sealed  forever  in  death.  In  either  case 
the  time  for  suppression  is  past,  and  every  word  which  I  tell 
you  is  the  naked  truth,  and  this  I  swear  as  I  hope  for  mercy. 

" '  My  name,  dear  lad,  is  not  Trevor.  I  was  James  Armi- 
tage  in  my  younger  days,  and  you  can  understand  now  the 
shock  that  it  was  to  me  a  few  weeks  ago  when  your  college 
friend  addressed  me  in  words  which  seemed  to  imply  that  he 
had  surprised  my  secret.  As  Armitage  it  was  that  I  entered 
a  London  banking-house,  and  as  Armitage  I  was  convicted  of 
breaking  my  country's  laws,  and  was  sentenced  to  transporta- 
tion. Do  not  think  very  harshly  of  me,  laddie.  It  was  a  debt 
of  honor,  so  called,  which  I  had  to  pay,  and  I  used  money 
which  was  not  my  own  to  do  it,  in  the  certain ty  that  I  could 
replace  it  before  there  could  be  any  possibility  of  its  being 
missed.  But  the  most  dreadful  ill-luck  pursued  me.  The 
money  which  I  had  reckoned  upon  never  came  to  hand,  and  a 
premature  examination  of  accounts  exposed  my  deficit.  The 
ease  might  have  been  dealt  leniently  with,  but  the  laws  were 
more  harshly  administered  thirty  years  ago  than  now,  and  on 
my  twenty-third  birthday  I  found  myself  chained  as  a  felon 
with  thirty-seven  other  convicts  in  the  'tween-decks  of  the 
bark  Gloria  Scottt  bound  for  Australia. 

"'It  was  the  year  '55,  when  the  Crimean  war  was  at  its 
height,  and  the  old  convict  ships  had  been  largely  used  as 
transports  in  the  Black  Sea.  The  government  was  compelled, 
therefore,  to  use  smaller  and  less  suitable  vessels  for  sending 
out  their  prisoners.  The  Gloria  Scott  had  been  in  the  Chinese 
tea-trade,  but  she  was  an  old-fashioned,  heavy-bowed,  broad- 


84  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

beamed  craft,  and  the  new  clippers  had  cut  her  out.  She  was 
a  five-hundred-ton  boat ;  and  besides  her  thirty-eight  jail-birds, 
she  carried  twenty-six  of  a  crew,  eighteen  soldiers,  a  captain, 
three  mates,  a  doctor,  a  chaplain,  and  four  warders.  Near!y 
a  hundred  souls  were  in  her,  all  told,  when  we  set  sail  from 
Falmouth. 

" '  The  partitions  between  the  cells  of  the  convicts,  instead 
of  being  of  thick  oak,  as  is  usual  in  convict-ships,  were  quite 
thin  and  frail.  The  man  next  to  me,  upon  the  aft  side,  was 
one  whom  I  had  particularly  noticed  when  we  were  led  down 
the  quay.  He  was  a  young  man  with  a  clear,  hairless  face,  a 
long,  thin  nose,  and  rather  nut-cracker  jaws.  He  carried  his 
head  very  jauntily  in  the  air,  had  a  swaggering  style  of  walking, 
and  was,  above  all  else,  remarkable  for  his  extraordinary  height. 
I  don't  think  any  of  our  heads  would  have  come  up  to  his 
shoulder,  and  I  am  sure  that  he  could  not  have  measured  less 
than  six  and  a  half  feet.  It  was  strange  among  so  many  sad 
and  weary  faces  to  see  one  which  was  full  of  energy  and  reso- 
lution. The  sight  of  it  was  to  me  like  a  fire  in  a  snow-storm. 
I  was  glad,  then,  to  find  that  he  was  my  neighbor,  and  glad- 
der still  when,  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  I  heard  a  whisper 
close  to  my  ear,  and  found  that  he  had  managed  to  cut  an 
opening  in  the  board  which  separated  us. 

"  ' "  Hullo,  chummy !"  said  he,  "  what's  your  name,  and  what 
are  you  here  for  ?" 

** '  I  answered  him,  and  asked  in  turn  who  I  was  talking  with. 

"'"I'm  Jack  Prendergast,"  said  he,  "and  by  God!  you'll 
learn  to  bless  my  name  before  you've  done  with  me." 

" '  I  remembered  hearing  of  his  case,  for  it  was  one  which 
had  made  an  immense  sensation  throughout  the  country 
some  time  before  my  own  arrest.  He  was  a  man  of  good 
family  and  of  great  ability,  but  of  incurably  vicious  habits, 
who  had  by  an  ingenious  system  of  fraud  obtained  huge 
sums  of  money  from  the  leading  London  merchants. 

" ' "  Ha,  ha  !     You  remember  my  case  !"  said  he,  proudly. 

" « "  Very  well,  indeed." 


THE   "GLORIA   SCOTT  "  85 

** ' "  Then  maybe  you  remember  something  queer  about  it  ?n 

" ' "  What  was  that,  then  ?" 

" ' "  I'd  had  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million,  hadn't  I  ?" 

"  ' "  So  it  was  said." 

" '  "  But  none  was  recovered,  eh  ?" 

« ' "  No." 

" '  "  Well,  where  d'ye  suppose  the  balance  is  ?"  he  asked. 

" ' "  I  have  no  idea,"  said  I. 

" '  "  Right  between  my  finger  and  thumb,"  he  cried.  "  By 
God !  I've  got  more  pounds  to  my  name  than  you've  hairs 
on  your  head.  And  if  you've  money,  my  son,  and  know  how 
to  handle  it  and  spread  it,  you  can  do  anything.  Now,  you 
don't  think  it  likely  that  a  man  who  could  do  anything  is 
going  to  wear  his  breeches  out  sitting  in  the  stinking  hold  of 
a  rat-gutted,  beetle-ridden,  mouldy  old  coffin  of  a  Chin  China 
coaster.  No,  sir,  such  a  man  will  look  after  himself  and  will 
look  after  his  chums.  You  may  lay  to  that !  You  hold  on  to 
him,  and  you  may  kiss  the  book  that  he'll  haul  you  through." 

"  '  That  was  his  style  of  talk,  and  at  first  I  thought  it  meant 
nothing ;  but  after  a  while,  when  he  had  tested  me  and  sworn 
me  in  with  all  possible  solemnity,  he  let  me  understand  that 
there  really  was  a  plot  to  gain  command  of  the  vessel.  A 
dozen  of  the  prisoners  had  hatched  it  before  they  came 
aboard,  Prendergast  was  the  leader,  and  his  money  was  the 
motive  power. 

" '  "  I'd  a  partner,"  said  he,  "  a  rare  good  man,  as  true  as  a 
stock  to  a  barrel.  He's  got  the  dibbs,  he  has,  and  where  do 
you  think  he  is  at  this  moment  ?  Why,  he's  the  chaplain  of 
this  ship — the  chaplain,  no  less  !  He  came  aboard  with  a 
black  coat,  and  his  papers  right,  and  money  enough  in  his 
box  to  buy  the  thing  right  up  from  keel  to  main-truck.  The 
crew  are  his,  body  and  soul.  He  could  buy  'em  at  so  much 
a  gross  with  a  cash  discount,  and  he  did  it  before  ever  they 
signed  on.  He's  got  two  of  the  warders  and  Mereer,  the 
second  mate,  and  he'd  get  the  captain  himself,  if  he  thought 
him  worth  it." 


86  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

" ' "  What  are  we  to  do,  then  ?"  I  asked. 

" ' "  What  do  you  think?"  said  he.  "  We'll  make  the  coats 
of  some  of  these  soldiers  redder  than  ever  the  tailor  did." 

"  '  "  But  they  are  armed,"  said  I. 

" ' "  And  so  shall  we  be,  my  boy.  There's  a  brace  of  pistols 
for  every  mother's  son  of  us,  and  if  we  can't  carry  this  ship, 
with  the  crew  at  our  back,  it's  time  we  were  all  sent  to  a 
young  misses'  boarding-school.  You  speak  to  your  mate  upon 
the  left  to-night,  and  see  if  he  is  to  be  trusted." 

" '  I  did  so,  and  found  my  other  neighbor  to  be  a  young 
fellow  in  much  the  same  position  as  myself,  whose  crime 
had  been  forgery.  His  name  was  Evans,  but  he  afterwards 
changed  it,  like  myself,  and  he  is  now  a  rich  and  prosper- 
ous man  in  the  south  of  England.  He  was  ready  enough  to 
join  the  conspiracy,  as  the  only  means  of  saving  ourselves, 
and  before  we  had  crossed  the  Bay  there  were  only  two  of 
the  prisoners  who  were  not  in  the  secret.  One  of  these  was 
of  weak  mind,  and  we  did  not  dare  to  trust  him,  and  the 
other  was  suffering  from  jaundice,  and  could  not  be  of  any 
use  to  us. 

"'From  the  beginning  there  was  really  nothing  to  prevent 
us  from  taking  possession  of  the  ship.  The  crew  were  a  set 
of  ruffians,  specially  picked  for  the  job.  The  sham  chaplain 
came  into  our  cells  to  exhort  us,  carrying  a  black  bag,  sup- 
posed to  be  full  of  tracts,  and  so  often  did  he  come  that  by 
the  third  day  we  had  each  stowed  away  at  the  foot  of  our 
beds  a  file,  a  brace  of  pistols,  a  pound  of  powder,  and  twenty 
slugs.  Two  of  the  warders  were  agents  of  Prendergast,  and 
the  second  mate  was  his  right-hand  man.  The  captain,  the 
two  mates,  two  warders,  Lieutenant  Martin,  his  eighteen  sol- 
diers, and  the  doctor  were  all  that  we  had  against  us.  Yet, 
safe  as  it  was,  we  determined  to  neglect  no  precaution,  and  to 
make  our  attack  suddenly  by  night.  It  came,  however,  more 
quickly  than  we  expected,  and  in  this  way. 

"'One  evening,  about  the  third  week  after  our  start,  the 
doctor  had  come  down  to  see  one  of  ^ae  t>risoners  who  was 


THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT"  87 

ill,  and  putting  his  hand  down  on  the  bottom  of  his  bunk  he 
felt  the  outline  of  the  pistols.  If  he  had  been  silent  he  might 
have  blown  the  whole  thing,  but  he  was  a  nervous  little  chap, 
so  he  gave  a  cry  of  surprise  and  turned  so  pale  that  the  man 
knew  what  was  up  in  an  instant  and  seized  him.  He  was 
gagged  before  he  could  give  the  alarm,  and  tied  down  upon 
the  bed.  He  had  unlocked  the  door  that  led  to  the  deck, 
and  we  were  through  it  in  a  rush.  The  two  sentries  were 
shot  down,  and  so  was  a  corporal  who  came  running  to  see 
what  was  the  matter.  There  were  two  more  soldiers  at  the 
door  of  the  state-room,  and  their  muskets  seemed  not  to  be 
loaded,  for  they  never  fired  upon  us,  and  they  were  shot 
while  trying  to  fix  their  bayonets.  Then  we  rushed  on  into 
the  captain's  cabin,  but  as  we  pushed  open  the  door  there 
was  an  explosion  from  within,  and  there  he  lay  with  his 
brains  smeared  over  the  chart  of  the  Atlantic  which  was 
pinned  upon  the  table,  while  the  chaplain  stood  with  a  smok- 
ing pistol  in  his  hand  at  his  elbow.  The  two  mates  had  both 
been  seized  by  the  crew,  and  the  whole  business  seemed  to 
be  settled. 

"  The  state-room  was  next  the  cabin,  and  we  flocked  in  there 
and  flopped  down  on  the  settees,  all  speaking  together,  for  we 
were  just  mad  with  the  feeling  that  we  were  free  once  more. 
There  were  lockers  all  round,  and  Wilson,  the  sham  chaplain, 
knocked  one  of  them  in,  and  pulled  out  a  dozen  of  brown 
sherry.  We  cracked  off  the  necks  of  the  bottles,  poured  the 
stuff  out  into  tumblers,  and  were  just  tossing  them  off,  when 
in  an  instant  without  warning  there  came  the  roar  of  muskets 
in  our  ears,  and  the  saloon  was  so  full  of  smoke  that  we  could 
not  see  across  the  table.  When  it  cleared  again  the  place 
was  a  shambles.  Wilson  and  eight  others  were  wriggling  on 
the  top  of  each  other  on  the  floor,  and  the  blood  and  the 
brown  sherry  on  that  table  turn  me  sick  now  when  I  think 
of  it.  We  were  so  cowed  by  the  sight  that  I  think  we  should 
have  given  the  job  up  if  it  had  not  been  for  Prendergast.  He 
bellowed  like  a  bull  and  rushed  for  the  door  with  all  that 


88  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

were  left  alive  at  his  heels.  Out  we  ran,  and  there  on  the 
poop  were  the  lieutenant  and  ten  of  his  men.  The  swing 
skylights  above  the  saloon  table  had  been  a  bit  open,  and 
they  had  fired  on  us  through  the  slit.  We  got  on  them 
before  they  could  load,  and  they  stood  to  it  like  men ;  but 
we  had  the  upper  hand  of  them,  and  in  five  minutes  it  was 
ail  over.  My  God  !  was  there  ever  a  slaughter-house  like 
that  ship !  Prendergast  was  like  a  raging  devil,  and  he 
picked  the  soldiers  up  as  if  they  had  been  children  and 
threw  them  overboard  alive  or  dead.  There  was  one  ser- 
geant that  was  horribly  wounded  and  yet  kept  on  swimming 
for  a  surprising  time,  until  some  one  in  mercy  blew  out  his 
brains.  When  the  fighting  was  over  there  was  no  one  left 
of  our  enemies  except  just  the  warders,  the  mates,  and  the 
doctor. 

" '  It  was  over  them  that  the  great  quarrel  arose.  There 
were  many  of  us  who  were  glad  enough  to  win  back  our 
freedom,  and  yet  who  had  no  wish  to  have  murder  on  our 
souls.  It  was  one  thing  to  knock  the  soldiers  over  with 
their  muskets  in  their  hands,  and  it  was  another  to  stand  by 
while  men  were  being  killed  in  cold  blood.  Eight  of  us,  five 
convicts  and  three  sailors,  said  that  we  would  not  see  it 
done.  But  there  was  no  moving  Prendergast  and  those  who 
were  with  him.  Our  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  making  a 
clean  job  of  it,  said  he,  and  he  would  not  leave  a  tongue  with 
power  to  wag  in  a  witness-box.  It  nearly  came  to  our  shar- 
ing the  fate  of  the  prisoners,  but  at  last  he  said  that  if  we 
wished  we  might  take  a  boat  and  go.  We  jumped  at  the 
offer,  for  we  were  already  sick  of  these  bloodthirsty  doings, 
and  we  saw  that  there  would  be  worse  before  it  was  done. 
We  were  given  a  suit  of  sailor  togs  each,  a  barrel  of  water, 
two  casks,  one  of  junk  and  one  of  biscuits,  and  a  compass. 
Prendergast  threw  us  over  a  chart,  told  us  that  we  were 
shipwrecked  mariners  whose  ship  had  foundered  in  Lat. 
15°  and  Long.  25°  west,  and  then  cut  the  painter  and  let 
us  go. 


THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT"  89 

" '  And  now  I  come  to  the  most  surprising  part  of  my  story, 
my  dear  son.  The  seamen  had  hauled  the  fore-yard  aback 
during  the  rising,  but  now  as  we  left  them  they  brought  it 
square  again,  and  as  there  was  a  light  wind  from  the  north 
and  east  the  bark  began  to  draw  slowly  away  from  us.  Our 
boat  lay,  rising  and  falling,  upon  the  long,  smooth  rollers,  and 
Evans  and  I,  who  were  the  most  educated  of  the  party,  were 
sitting  in  the  sheets  working  out  our  position  and  planning 
what  coast  we  should  make  for.  It  was  a  nice  question,  for 
the  Cape  de  Verds  were  about  five  hundred  miles  to  the 
north  of  us,  and  the  African  coast  about  seven  hundred  to 
the  east.  On  the  whole,  as  the  wind  was  coming  round  to 
the  north,  we  thought  that  Sierra  Leone  might  be  best,  and 
turned  our  head  in  that  direction,  the  bark  being  at  that  time 
nearly  hull  down  on  our  starboard  quarter.  Suddenly  as  we 
looked  at  her  we  saw  a  dense  black  cloud  of  smoke  shoot  up 
from  her,  which  hung  like  a  monstrous  tree  upon  the  sky  line. 
A  few  seconds  later  a  roar  like  thunder  burst  upon  our  ears, 
and  as  the  smoke  thinned  away  there  was  no  sign  left  of  the 
Gloria  Scott.  In  an  instant  we  swept  the  boat's  head  round 
again  and  pulled  with  all  our  strength  for  the  place  where  the 
haze  still  trailing  over  the  water  marked  the  scene  of  this  ca- 
tastrophe. 

" '  It  was  a  long  hour  before  we  reached  it,  and  at  first  we 
feared  that  we  had  come  too  late  to  save  any  one.  A  splin- 
tered boat  and  a  number  of  crates  and  fragments  of  spars  ris- 
ing and  falling  on  the  waves  showed  us  where  the  vessel  had 
foundered ;  but  there  was  no  sign  of  life,  and  we  had  turned 
away  in  despair  when  we  heard  a  cry  for  help,  and  saw  at 
some  distance  a  piece  of  wreckage  with  a  man  lying  stretched 
across  it.  When  we  pulled  him  aboard  the  boat  he  proved 
to  be  a  young  seaman  of  the  name  of  Hudson,  who  was  so 
burned  and  exhausted  that  he  could  give  us  no  account  of 
what  had  happened  until  the  following  morning. 

" '  It  seemed  that  after  we  had  left,  Prendergast  and  his 
gang  had  proceeded  to  put  to  death  the  five  remaining  pris- 


90  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

oners.  The  two  warders  had  been  shot  and  thrown  over- 
board, and  so  also  had  the  third  mate.  Prendergast  then 
descended  into  the  'tween-decks  and  with  his  own  hands  cut 
the  throat  of  the  unfortunate  surgeon.  There  only  remained 
the  first  mate,  who  was  a  bold  and  active  man.  When  he 
saw  the  convict  approaching  him  with  the  bloody  knife  in 
his  hand  he  kicked  off  his  bonds,  which  he  had  somehow 
contrived  to  loosen,  and  rushing  down  the  deck  he  plunged 
into  the  after-hold.  A  dozen  convicts,  who  descended  with 
their  pistols  in  search  of  him,  found  him  with  a  match-box 
in  his  hand  seated  beside  an  open  powder-barrel,  which  was 
one  of  a  hundred  carried  on  board,  and  swearing  that  he 
would  blow  all  hands  up  if  he  were  in  any  way  molested. 
An  instant  later  the  explosion  occurred,  though  Hudson 
thought  it  was  caused  by  the  misdirected  bullet  of  one  of 
the  convicts  rather  than  the  mate's  match.  Be  the  cause 
what  it  may,  it  was  the  end  of  the  Gloria  Scott  and  of  the 
rabble  who  held  command  of  her. 

"  '  Such,  in  a  few  words,  my  dear  boy,  is  the  history  of  this 
terrible  business  in  which  I  was  involved.  Next  day  we  were 
picked  up  by  the  brig  Hotspur,  bound  for  Australia,  whose 
captain  found  no  difficulty  in  believing  that  we  were  the  sur- 
vivors of  a  passenger  ship  which  had  foundered.  The  trans- 
port ship  Gloria  Scott  was  set  down  by  the  Admiralty  as 
being  lost  at  sea,  and  no  word  has  ever  leaked  out  as  to  her 
true  fate.  After  an  excellent  voyage  the  Hotspur  landed  us 
at  Sydney,  where  Evans  and  I  changed  our  names  and  made 
our  way  to  the  diggings,  where,  among  the  crowds  who  were 
gathered  from  all  nations,  we  had  no  difficulty  in  losing  our 
former  identities.  The  rest  I  need  not  relate.  We  pros- 
pered, we  travelled,  we  came  back  as  rich  colonials  to  Eng- 
land, and  we  bought  country  estates.  For  more  than  twenty 
years  we  have  led  peaceful  and  useful  lives,  and  we  hoped 
that  our  past  was  forever  buried.  Imagine,  then,  my  feelings 
when  in  the  seaman  who  came  to  us  I  recognized  instantly 
the  man  who  had  been  picked  off  the  wreck.  He  had  tracked 


THE  "GLORIA  SCOTT"  9* 

us  down  somehow,  and  had  set  himself  to  live  upon  our  fears. 
You  will  understand  now  how  it  was  that  I  strove  to  keep 
the  peace  with  him,  and  you  will  in  some  measure  sympathize 
with  me  in  the  fears  which  fill  me,  now  that  he  has  gone 
from  m«  to  his  other  victim  with  threats  upon  his  tongue.' 

"  Underneath  is  written  in  a  hand  so  shaky  as  to  be  hardly 
legible,  '  Beddoes  writes  in  cipher  to  say  H.  has  told  all. 
Sweet  Lord,  have  mercy  on  our  souls !' 

"That  was  the  narrative  which  I  read  that  night  to  young 
Trevor,  and  I  think,  Watson,  that  under  the  circumstances  it 
was  a  dramatic  one.  The  good  fellow  was  heart-broken  at  it, 
and  went  out  to  the  Terai  tea  planting,  where  I  hear  that  he 
is  doing  well.  As  to  the  sailor  and  Beddoes,  neither  of  them 
was  ever  heard  of  again  after  that  day  on  which  the  letter 
of  warning  was  written.  They  both  disappeared  utterly  and 
completely.  No  complaint  had  been  lodged  with  the  police, 
so  that  Beddoes  had  mistaken  a  threat  for  a  deed.  Hudson 
had  been  seen  lurking  about,  and  it  was  believed  by  the  po- 
lice that  he  had  done  away  with  Beddoes  and  had  fled.  For 
myself  I  believe  that  the  truth  was  exactly  the  opposite.  I 
think  that  it  is  most  probable  that  Beddoes,  pushed  to  des- 
peration and  believing  himself  to  have  been  already  betrayed, 
had  revenged  himself  upon  Hudson,  and  had  fled  from  the 
country  with  as  much  money  as  he  could  lay  his  hands  on. 
Those  are  the  facts  of  the  case,  Doctor,  and  if  they  are  of  any 
use  to  your  collection,  I  am  sure  that  they  are  very  heartily  at 
your  service." 


BDventure  flflff 

THE   MUSGRAVE   RITUAL 

[N  anomaly  which  often  struck  me  in  the  charac- 
ter of  my  friend  Sherlock  Holmes  was  that, 
although  in  his  methods  of  thought  he  was  the 
neatest  and  most  methodical  of  mankind,  and 
although  also  he  affected  a  certain  quiet  prim- 
ness of  dress,  he  was  none  the  less  in  his  personal  habits  one 
of  the  most  untidy  men  that  ever  drove  a  fellow-lodger  to  dis- 
traction. Not  that  I  am  in  the  least  conventional  in  that 
respect  myself.  The  rough-and-tumble  work  in  Afghanistan, 
coming  on  the  top  of  a  natural  Bohemianism  of  disposition, 
has  made  me  rather  more  lax  than  befits  a  medical  man. 
But  with  me  there  is  a  limit,  and  when  I  find  a  man  who 
keeps  his  cigars  in  the  coal-scuttle,  his  tobacco  in  the  toe 
end  of  a  Persian  slipper,  and  his  unanswered  correspondence 
transfixed  by  a  jack-knife  into  the  very  centre  of  his  wooden 
mantelpiece,  then  I  begin  to  give  myself  virtuous  airs.  I  have 
always  held,  too,  that  pistol  practice  should  be  distinctly 
an  open-air  pastime ;  and  when  Holmes,  in  one  of  his  queer 
humors,  would  sit  in  an  arm-chair  with  his  hair-trigger  and  a 
hundred  Boxer  cartridges,  and  proceed  to  adorn  the  oppo- 
site wall  with  a  patriotic  V.  R.  done  in  bullet-pocks,  I  felt 
strongly  that  neither  the  atmosphere  nor  the  appearance  of 
our  room  was  improved  by  it. 

Our  chambers  were  always  full  of  chemicals  and  of  crim- 
inal relics  which  had  a  way  of  wandering  into  unlikely  posi- 
tions, and  of  turning  up  in  the  butter-dish  or  in  even  less 
desirable  places.  But  his  papers  were  my  great  crux.  He 


THE    MUSGRAVK    RITUAL  93 

had  a  horror  of  destroying  documents,  especially  those  which 
were  connected  with  his  past  cases,  and  yet  it  was  only  once 
in  every  year  or  two  that  he  would  muster  energy  to  docket 
and  arrange  them ;  for,  as  I  have  mentioned  somewhere  in 
these  incoherent  memoirs,  the  outbursts  of  passionate  energy 
when  he  performed  the  remarkable  feats  with  which  his  name 
is  associated  were  followed  by  reactions  of  lethargy  during 
which  he  would  lie  about  with  his  violin  and  his  books, 
hardly  moving  save  from  the  sofa  to  the  table.  Thus  month 
after  month  his  papers  accumulated,  until  every  corner  of  the 
room  was  stacked  with  bundles  of  manuseript  which  were  on 
no  account  to  be  burned,  and  which  could  not  be  put  away 
save  by  their  owner.  One  winter's  night,  as  we  sat  together 
by  the  fire,  I  ventured  to  suggest  to  him  that,  as  he  had  fin- 
ished pasting  extracts  into  his  common-place  book,  he  might 
employ  the  next  two  hours  in  making  our  room  a  little  more 
habitable.  He  could  not  deny  the  justice  of  my  request,  so 
with  a  rather  rueful  face  he  went  off  to  his  bedroom,  from 
which  he  returned  presently  pulling  a  large  tin  box  behind 
him.  This  he  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and,  squat- 
ting down  upon  a  stool  in  front  of  it,  he  threw  back  the  lid. 
1  could  see  that  it  was  already  a  third  full  of  bundles  of  paper 
tied  up  with  red  tape  into  separate  packages. 

"  There  are  cases  enough  here,  Watson,"  said  he,  looking 
at  me  with  mischievous  eyes.  "  I  think  that  if  you  knew  all 
that  I  had  in  this  box  you  would  ask  me  to  pull  some  out 
instead  of  putting  others  in." 

"  These  are  the  records  of  your  early  work,  then  ?"  I  asked. 
"  I  have  often  wished  that  I  had  notes  of  those  cases." 

"Yes,  my  boy,  these  were  all  done  prematurely  before  my 
biographer  had  come  to  glorify  me."  He  lifted  bundle  after 
bundle  in  a  tender,  caressing  sort  of  way.  "  They  are  not  all 
successes,  Watson,"  said  he.  "  But  there  are  some  pretty  lit- 
tle problems  among  them.  Here's  the  record  of  the  Tarleton 
murders,  and  the  case  of  Vamberry,  the  wine  merchant,  and 
the  adventure  of  the  old  Russian  woman,  and  the  singular 


94  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

affair  of  the  aluminium  crutch,  as  well  as  a  full  account  of 
Ricoletti  of  the  club-foot,  and  his  abominable  wife.  And 
here — ah,  now,  this  really  is  something  a  little  recherche" 
<•  He  dived  his  arm  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  and 
brought  up  a  small  wooden  box  with  a  sliding  lid,  such  as 
children's  toys  are  kept  in.  From  within  he  produced  a 
crumpled  piece  of  paper,  an  old-fashioned  brass  key,  a  peg  of 
wood  with  a  ball  of  string  attached  to  it,  and  three  rusty  old 
disks  of  metal. 

"  Well,  my  boy,  what  do  you  make  of  this  lot  ?"  he  asked, 
smiling  at  my  expression. 

"  It  is  a  curious  collection." 

"  Very  curious,  and  the  story  that  hangs  round  it  will  strike 
you  as  being  more  curious  still." 

"  These  relics  have  a  history,  then  ?" 

"  So  much  so  that  they  are  history." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?" 

Sherlock  Holmes  picked  them  up  one  by  one,  and  laid 
them  along  the  edge  of  the  table.  Then  he  reseated  himself 
in  his  chair  and  looked  them  over  with  a  gleam  of  satisfac- 
tion in  his  eyes. 

"These,"  said  he,  "are  all  that  I  have  left  to  remind  me  of 
the  adventure  of  the  Musgrave  Ritual." 

I  had  heard  him  mention  the  case  more  than  once,  though 
I  had  never  been  able  to  gather  the  details.  "  I  should  be  so 
glad,"  said  I,  "  if  you  would  give  me  an  account  of  it." 

"And  leave  the  litter  as  it  is?"  he  cried,  mischievously. 
"Your  tidiness  won't  bear  much  strain  after  all,  Watson. 
But  I  should  be  glad  that  you  should  add  this  case  to  your 
annals,  for  there  are  points  in  it  which  make  it  quite  unique  in 
the  criminal  records  of  this  or,  I  believe,  of  any  other  country. 
A  collection  of  my  trifling  achievements  would  certainly  be 
incomplete  which  contained  no  account  of  this  very  singular 
business. 

"  You  may  remember  how  the  affair  of  the  Gloria  Scott,  and 
my  conversation  with  the  unhappy  man  whose  fate  I  told  you 


THE    MUSGRAVE    RITUAL  95 

of,  first  turned  my  attention  in  the  direction  of  the  profession 
which  has  become  my  life's  work.  You  see  me  now  when  my 
name  has  become  known  far  and  wide,  and  when  I  am  gener- 
ally recognized  both  by  the  public  and  by  the  official  force  as 
being  a  final  court  of  appeal  in  doubtful  cases.  Even  when 
you  knew  me  first,  at  the  time  of  the  affair  which  you  have 
commemorated  in  'A  Study  in  Scarlet,'  I  had  already  estab- 
lished a  considerable,  though  not  a  very  lucrative,  connection. 
You  can  hardly  realize,  then,  how  difficult  I  found  it  at  first, 
and  how  long  I  had  to  wait  before  I  succeeded  in  making  any 
headway. 

"When  I  first  came  up  to  London  I  had  rooms  in  Mon- 
tague Street,  just  round  the  corner  from  the  British  Museum, 
and  there  I  waited,  filling  in  my  too  abundant  leisure  time  by 
studying  all  those  branches  of  science  which  might  make  me 
more  efficient.  Now  and  again  cases  came  in  my  way,  prin- 
cipally through  the  introduction  of  old  fellow -students,  for 
during  my  last  years  at  the  University  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  talk  there  about  myself  and  my  methods.  The  third  of 
these  cases  was  that  of  the  Musgrave  Ritual,  and  it  is  to  the 
interest  which  was  aroused  by  that  singular  chain  of  events, 
and  the  large  issues  which  proved  to  be  at  stake,  that  I  trace 
my  first  stride  towards  the  position  which  I  now  hold. 

"  Reginald  Musgrave  had  been  in  the  same  college  as  my- 
self, and  I  had  some  slight  acquaintance  with  him.  He  was 
not  generally  popular  among  the  undergraduates,  though  it 
always  seemed  to  me  that  what  was  set  down  as  pride  was 
really  an  attempt  to  cover  extreme  natural  diffidence.  In  ap- 
pearance he  was  a  man  of  an  exceedingly  aristocratic  type,  thin, 
high-nosed,  and  large-eyed,  with  languid  and  yet  courtly  man- 
ners. He  was  indeed  a  scion  of  one  of  the  very  oldest  fami- 
lies in  the  kingdom,  though  his  branch  was  a  cadet  one  which 
had  separated  from  the  northern  Musgraves  some  time  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  had  established  itself  in  western  Sus- 
sex, where  the  Manor  House  of  Hurlstone  is  perhaps  the  old- 
est inhabited  building  in  the  county.  Something  of  his  birth- 


96  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

place  seemed  to  cling  to  the  man,  and  I  never  looked  at  his 
pale,  keen  face  or  the  poise  of  his  head  without  associating 
him  with  gray  archways  and  mullioned  windows  and  all  the 
venerable  wreckage  of  a  feudal  keep.  Once  or  twice  we 
drifted  into  talk,  and  I  can  remember  that  more  than  once 
he  expressed  a  keen  interest  in  my  methods  of  observation 
and  inference. 

"  For  four  years  I  had  seen  nothing  of  him  until  one  morn- 
ing he  walked  into  my  room  in  Montague  Street.  He  had 
changed  little,  was  dressed  like  a  young  man  of  fashion — 
he  was  always  a  bit  of  a  dandy — and  preserved  the  same 
quiet,  suave  manner  which  had  formerly  distinguished  him. 

" '  How  has  all  gone  with  you,  Musgrave  ?'  I  asked,  after 
we  had  cordially  shaken  hands. 

" '  You  probably  heard  of  my  poor  father's  death,'  said  he ; 
'he  was  carried  off  about  two  years  ago.  Since  then  I  have 
of  course  had  the  Hurlstone  estates  to  manage,  and  as  I  am 
member  for  my  district  as  well,  my  life  has  been  a  busy  one. 
But  I  understand,  Holmes,  that  you  are  turning  to  practical 
ends  those  powers  with  which  you  used  to  amaze  us  ?' 

" '  Yes,'  said  I, '  I  have  taken  to  living  by  my  wits.' 

" '  I  am  delighted  to  hear  it,  for  your  advice  at  present 
would  be  exceedingly  valuable  to  me.  We  have  had  some 
very  strange  doings  at  Hurlstone,  and  the  police  have  been 
able  to  throw  no  light  upon  the  matter.  It  is  really  the  most 
extraordinary  and  inexplicable  business.' 

"You  can  imagine  with  what  eagerness  I  listened  to  hina, 
Watson,  for  the  very  chance  for  which  I  had  been  panting 
during  all  those  months  of  inaction  seemed  to  have  come 
within  my  reach.  In  my  inmost  heart  I  believed  that  I  could 
succeed  where  others  failed,  and  now  I  had  the  opportunity  to 
test  myself. 

"  *  Pray,  let  me  have  the  details/  I  cried. 

"  Reginald  Musgrave  sat  down  opposite  to  me,  and  lit  the 
cigarette  which  I  had  pushed  towards  him. 

" '  You  must  know,'  said  he,  '  that  though  I  am  a  bachelor, 


THE   MUSGRAVE    RITUAL  97 

I  have  to  keep  up  a  considerable  staff  of  servants  at  Hurl- 
stone,  for  it  is  a  rambling  old  place,  and  takes  a  good  deal 
of  looking  after.  I  preserve,  too,  and  in  the  pheasant  months 
I  usually  have  a  house-party,  so  that  it  would  not  do  to  be 
short-handed.  Altogether  there  are  eight  maids,  the  cook, 
the  butler,  two  footmen,  and  a  boy.  The  garden  and  the 
stables  of  course  have  a  separate  staff. 

"  '  Of  these  servants  the  one  who  had  been  longest  in  our 
service  was  Brunton  the  butler.  He  was  a  young  school- 
master out  of  place  when  he  was  first  taken  up  by  my  fa- 
ther, but  he  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  character,  and 
he  soon  became  quite  invaluable  in  the  household.  He 
was  a  well -grown,  handsome  man,  with  a  splendid  fore- 
head, and  though  he  has  been  with  us  for  twenty  years 
he  cannot  be  more  than  forty  now.  With  his  personal  ad- 
vantages and  his  extraordinary  gifts — for  he  can  speak  sev- 
eral languages  and  play  nearly  every  musical  instrument — 
it  is  wonderful  that  he  should  have  been  satisfied  so  long 
in  such  a  position,  but  I  suppose  that  he  was  comfortable, 
and  lacked  energy  to  make  any  change.  The  butler  of 
Hurlstone  is  always  a  thing  that  is  remembered  by  all  who 
visit  us. 

" '  But  this  paragon  has  one  fault.  He  is  a  bit  of  a  Don 
Juan,  and  you  can  imagine  that  for  a  man  like  him  it  is  not 
a  very  difficult  part  to  play  in  a  quiet  country  district.  When 
he  was  married  it  was  all  right,  but  since  he  has  been  a  wid- 
ower we  have  had  no  end  of  trouble  with  him.  A  few  months 
ago  we  were  in  hopes  that  he  was  about  to  settle  down  again, 
for  he  became  engaged  to  Rachel  Howells,  our  second  house- 
maid ;  but  he  has  thrown  her  over  since  then  and  taken  up 
with  Janet  Tregellis,  the  daughter  of  the  head  game-keeper. 
Rachel — who  is  a  very  good  girl,  but  of  an  excitable  Welsh 
temperament — had  a  sharp  touch  of  brain -fever,  and  goes 
about  the  house  now — or  did  until  yesterday — like  a  black- 
eyed  shadow  of  her  former  self.  That  was  our  first  drama  at 
Hurlstone;  but  a  second  one  came  to  drive  it  from  our  minds, 


98  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

and  it  was  prefaced  by  the  disgrace  and  dismissal  of  butlet 
Brunton. 

" '  This  was  how  it  came  about.  I  have  said  that  the  man 
was  intelligent,  and  this  very  intelligence  has  caused  his  ruin, 
for  it  seems  to  have  led  to  an  insatiable  curiosity  about  things 
which  did  not  in  the  least  concern  him.  I  had  no  idea  of  the 
lengths  to  which  this  would  carry  him,  until  the  merest  acci- 
dent opened  my  eyes  to  it. 

"  '  I  have  said  that  the  house  is  a  rambling  one.  One  day 
last  week — on  Thursday  night,  to  be  more  exact — I  found  that 
I  could  not  sleep,  having  foolishly  taken  a  cup  of  strong  cafe 
noir  after  my  dinner.  After  struggling  against  it  until  two  in 
the  morning,  I  felt  that  it  was  quite  hopeless,  so  I  rose  and 
lit  the  candle  with  the  intention  of  continuing  a  novel  which 
I  was  reading.  The  book,  however,  had  been  left  in  the  bill- 
iard-room, so  I  pulled  on  my  dressing-gown  and  started  off  to 
get  it. 

" '  In  order  to  reach  the  billiard-room  I  had  to  descend  a 
flight  of  stairs  and  then  to  cross  the  head  of  a  passage  which 
led  to  the  library  and  the  gun-room.  You  can  imagine  my  sur- 
prise when,  as  I  looked  down  this  corridor,  I  saw  a  glimmer 
of  light  coming  from  the  open  door  of  the  library.  I  had  my- 
self extinguished  the  lamp  and  closed  the  door  before  coming 
to  bed.  Naturally  my  first  thought  was  of  burglars.  The  cor- 
ridors at  Hurlstone  have  their  walls  largely  decorated  with 
trophies  of  old  weapons.  From  one  of  these  I  picked  a  bat- 
tle-axe, and  then,  leaving  my  candle  behind  me,  I  crept  on 
tiptoe  down  the  passage  and  peeped  in  at  the  open  door. 

" '  Brunton,  the  butler,  was  in  the  library.  He  was  sitting, 
fully  dressed,  in  an  easy -chair,  with  a  slip  of  paper  which 
looked  like  a  map  upon  his  knee,  and  his  forehead  sunk  for- 
ward upon  his  hand  in  deep  thought.  I  stood  dumb  with 
astonishment,  watching  him  from  the  darkness.  A  small  taper 
on  the  edge  of  the  table  shed  a  feeble  light  which  sufficed  to 
show  me  that  he  was  fully  dressed.  Suddenly,  as  I  looked, 
he  rose  from  his  chair,  and  walking  over  to  a  bureau  at  the 


THE    MUSGRAVE   RITUAL  99 

side,  he  unlocked  it  and  drew  out  one  of  the  drawers.  From 
this  he  took  a  paper,  and  returning  to  his  seat  he  flattened  it 
out  beside  the  taper  on  the  edge  of  the  table,  and  began  to 
study  it  with  minute  attention.  My  indignation  at  this  calm 
examination  of  our  family  documents  overcame  me  so  far  that 
I  took  a  step  forward,  and  Brunton,  looking  up,  saw  me  stand- 
ing in  the  doorway.  He  sprang  to  his  feet,  his  face  turned 
livid  with  fear,  and  he  thrust  into  his  breast  the  chart-like 
paper  which  he  had  been  originally  studying. 

"  '  "  So  !*'  said  I.  "  This  is  how  you  repay  the  trust  which 
we  have  reposed  in  you.  You  will  leave  my  service  to-mor- 
row." 

" '  He  bowed  with  the  look  of  a  man  who  is  utterly  crushed, 
and  slunk  past  me  without  a  word.  The  taper  was  still  on 
the  table,  and  by  its  light  I  glanced  to  see  what  the  paper 
was  which  Brunton  had  taken  from  the  bureau.  To  my  sur- 
prise it  was  nothing  of  any  importance  at  all,  but  simply  a 
copy  of  the  questions  and  answers  in  the  singular  old  ob- 
servance called  the  Musgrave  Ritual.  It  is  a  sort  of  cere- 
mony peculiar  to  our  family,  which  each  Musgrave  for  cent- 
uries past  has  gone  through  on  his  coming  of  age — a  thing 
of  private  interest,  and  perhaps  of  some  little  importance  to 
the  archaeologist,  like  our  own  blazonings  and  charges,  but  of 
no  practical  use  whatever.' 

'"We  had  better  come  back  to  the  paper  afterwards,' 
said  I. 

" '  If  you  think  it  really  necessary,'  he  answered,  with  some 
hesitation.  '  To  continue  my  statement,  however :  I  relocked 
the  bureau,  using  the  key  which  Brunton  had  left,  and  I  had 
turned  to  go  when  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  butler  had 
returned,  and  was  standing  before  me. 

" ' "  Mr.  Musgrave,  sir,"  he  cried,  in  a  voice  which  was 
hoarse  with  emotion,  "  I  can't  bear  disgrace,  sir.  I've  always 
been  proud  above  my  station  in  life,  and  disgrace  would  kill 
me.  My  blood  will  be  on  your  head,  sir  —  it  will,  indeed 
— if  you  drive  me  to  despair.  If  you  cannot  keep  me  after 


JOO  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

what  has  passed,  then  for  God's  sake  let  me  give  you  notice 
and  leave  in  a  month,  as  if  of  my  own  free  will.  I  could  stand 
that,  Mr.  Musgrave,  but  not  to  be  cast  out  before  all  the  folk 
that  I  know  so  well." 

«  < «  you  don't  deserve  much  consideration,  Brunton,"  I 
answered.  "  Your  conduct  has  been  most  infamous.  How- 
ever, as  you  have  been  a  long  time  in  the  family,  I  have  no 
wish  to  bring  public  disgrace  upon  you.  A  month,  however, 
is  too  long.  Take  yourself  away  in  a  week,  and  give  what  rea- 
son you  like  for  going." 

"  ' "  Only  a  week,  sir  ?"  he  cried,  in  a  despairing  vo^ce.  "  A 
fortnight — say  at  least  a  fortnight !" 

" ' "  A  week,"  I  repeated,  "  and  you  may  consider  yoursek 
to  have  been  very  leniently  dealt  with." 

"'He  crept  away,  his  face  sunk  upon  his  breast,  like  a 
broken  man,  while  I  put  out  the  light  and  returned  to  my  room. 

" '  For  two  days  after  this  Brunton  was  most  assiduous  in 
his  attention  to  his  duties.  I  made  no  allusion  to  what  had 
passed,  and  waited  with  some  curiosity  to  see  how  he  would 
cover  his  disgrace.  On  the  third  morning,  however,  he  did 
not  appear,  as  was  his  custom,  after  breakfast  to  receive  my 
instructions  for  the  day.  As  I  left  the  dining-room  I  hap- 
pened to  meet  Rachel  Howells,  the  maid.  I  have  told  you 
that  she  had  only  recently  recovered  from  an  illness,  and  was 
looking  so  wretchedly  pale  and  wan  that  I  remonstrated  with 
her  for  being  at  work. 

«  <  t<  YOU  should  be  in  bed,"  I  said.  "  Come  back  to  your 
duties  when  you  are  stronger." 

" '  She  looked  at  me  with  so  strange  an  expression  that  I 
began  to  suspect  that  her  brain  was  affected. 

" ' "  I  am  strong  enough,  Mr.  Musgrave,"  said  she. 

"'"We  will  see  what  the  doctor  says,"  I  answered.  "You 
must  stop  work  now,  and  when  you  go  downstairs  just  say 
that  I  wish  to  see  Brunton." 

" « "  The  butler  is  gone,"  said  she. 


THE   MUSGRAVE   RITUAL  IOI 

" ' "  Gone !     Gone  where  ?" 

" ' "  He  is  gone.  No  one  has  seen  him.  He  is  not  in  his 
room.  Oh,  yes,  he  is  gone,  he  is  gone !"  She  fell  back  against 
the  wall  with  shriek  after  shriek  of  laughter,  while  I,  horrified 
at  this  sudden  hysterical  attack,  rushed  to  the  bell  to  sum- 
mon help.  The  girl  was  taken  to  her  room,  still  screaming 
and  sobbing,  while  I  made  inquiries  about  Brunton.  There 
was  no  doubt  about  it  that  he  had  disappeared.  His  bed 
had  not  been  slept  in,  he  had  been  seen  by  no  one  since  he 
had  retired  to  his  room  the  night  before,  and  yet  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  he  could  have  left  the  house,  as  both  windows 
and  doors  were  found  to  be  fastened  in  the  morning.  His 
clothes,  his  watch,  and  even  his  money  were  in  his  room,  but 
the  black  suit  which  he  usually  wore  was  missing.  His  slip- 
pers, too,  were  gone,  but  his  boots  were  left  behind.  Where 
then  could  butler  Brunton  have  gone  in  the  night,  and  what 
could  have  become  of  him  now  ? 

" '  Of  course  we  searched  the  house  from  cellar  to  garret, 
but  there  was  no  trace  of  him.  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  laby- 
rinth of  an  old  house,  especially  the  original  wing,  which  is 
now  practically  uninhabited ;  but  we  ransacked  every  room  and 
cellar  without  discovering  the  least  sign  of  the  missing  man. 
It  was  incredible  to  me  that  he  could  have  gone  away  leaving 
all  his  property  behind  him,  and  yet  where  could  he  be  ?  I 
called  in  the  local  police,  but  without  success.  Rain  had  fallen 
on  the  night  before,  and  we  examined  the  lawn  and  the  paths 
all  round  the  house,  but  in  vain.  Matters  were  in  this  state, 
when  a  new  development  quite  drew  our  attention  away  from 
the  original  mystery. 

"  '  For  two  days  Rachel  Howells  had  been  so  ill,  sometimes 
delirious,  sometimes  hysterical,  that  a  nurse  had  been  em- 
ployed to  sit  up  with  her  at  night.  On  the  third  night  after 
Brunton's  disappearance,  the  nurse,  finding  her  patient  sleep- 
ing nicely,  had  dropped  into  a  nap  in  the  arm-chair,  when  she 
woke  in  the  early  morning  to  find  the  bed  empty,  the  window 
open,  and  no  signs  of  the  invalid.  I  was  instantly  aroused, 


102  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

and,  with  the  two  footmen,  started  off  at  once  in  search  of  the 
missing  girl.  It  was  not  difficult  to  tell  the  direction  which 
she  had  taken,  for,  starting  from  under  her  window,  we  could 
follow  her  footmarks  easily  across  the  lawn  to  the  edge  of 
the  mere,  where  they  vanished  close  to  the  gravel  path  which 
leads  out  of  the  grounds.  The  lake  there  is  eight  feet  deep, 
and  you  can  imagine  our  feelings  when  we  saw  that  the  trail 
of  the  poor  demented  girl  came  to  an  end  at  the  edge  of  it 

" '  Of  course,  we  had  the  drags  at  once,  and  set  to  work  to 
recover  the  remains,  but  no  trace  of  the  body  could  we  find. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  brought  to  the  surface  an  object  of  a 
most  unexpected  kind.  It  was  a  linen  bag  which  contained 
within  it  a  mass  of  old  rusted  and  discolored  metal  and  sev- 
eral dull-colored  pieces  of  pebble  or  glass.  This  strange  find 
was  all  that  we  could  get  from  the  mere,  and,  although  we  made 
every  possible  search  and  inquiry  yesterday,  we  know  nothing 
of  the  fate  either  of  Rachel  Howells  or  of  Richard  Brunton. 
The  county  police  are  at  their  wits'  end,  and  I  have  come  up 
to  you  as  a  last  resource.' 

"  You  can  imagine,  Watson,  with  what  eagerness  I  listened 
to  this  extraordinary  sequence  of  events,  and  endeavored  to 
piece  them  together,  and  to  devise  some  common  thread  upon 
which  they  might  all  hang.  The  butler  was  gone.  The  maid 
was  gone.  The  maid  had  loved  the  butler,  but  had  afterwards 
had  cause  to  hate  him.  She  was  of  Welsh  blood,  fiery  and 
passionate.  She  had  been  terribly  excited  immediately  after 
his  disappearance.  She  had  flung  into  the  lake  a  bag  con- 
taining some  curious  contents.  These  were  all  factors  which 
had  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  yet  none  of  them  got 
quite  to  the  heart  of  the  matter.  What  was  the  starting-point 
of  this  chain  of  events  ?  There  lay  the  end  of  this  tangled  line. 

" '  I  must  see  that  paper,  Musgrave,'  said  I,  '  which  this 
butler  of  yours  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  consult,  even  at 
the  risk  of  the  loss  of  his  place.' 

" '  It  is  rather  an  absurd  business,  this  ritual  of  ours,'  he 
answered.  '  But  it  has  at  least  the  saving  grace  of  antiquity 


THE   MUSGRAVE   RITUAL  103 

to  excuse  it  I  have  a  copy  of  the  questions  and  answers 
here  if  you  care  to  run  your  eye  over  them.' 

"  He  handed  me  the  very  paper  which  I  have  here,  Watson, 
and  this  is  the  strange  catechism  to  which  each  Musgrave  had 
to  submit  when  he  came  to  man's  estate.  I  will  read  you  the 
questions  and  answers  as  they  stand. 

" '  Whose  was  it  ?' 

" '  His  who  is  gone.' 

" '  Who  shall  have  it  ?' 

"  '  He  who  will  come.' 

" '  Where  was  the  sun  ?' 

" '  Over  the  oak.' 

" '  Where  was  the  shadow  ?' 

"  *  Under  the  elm.' 

"  '  How  was  it  stepped  ?' 

" '  North  by  ten  and  by  ten,  east  by  five  and  by  five,  south 
by  two  and  by  two,  west  by  one  and  by  one,  and  so  under.' 

" '  What  shall  we  give  for  it  ?' 

."  '  All  that  is  ours.' 

" '  Why  should  we  give  it  ?' 

" '  For  the  sake  of  the  trust.' 

" '  The  original  has  no  date,  but  is  in  the  spelling  of  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,'  remarked  Musgrave.  '  I 
am  afraid,  however,  that  it  can  be  of  little  help  to  you  in  solv- 
ing this  mystery.' 

" '  At  least,'  said  I,  '  it  gives  us  another  mystery,  and  one 
which  is  even  more  interesting  than  the  first.  It  may  be  that 
the  solution  of  the  one  may  prove  to  be  the  solution  of  the 
other.  You  will  excuse  me,  Musgrave,  if  I  say  that  your  butler 
appears  to  me  to  have  been  a  very  clever  man,  and  to  have 
had  a  clearer  insight  than  ten  generations  of  his  masters.' 

"  '  I  hardly  follow  you,'  said  Musgrave.  '  The  paper  seems 
to  me  to  be  of  no  practical  importance.' 

"  '  But  to  me  it  seems  immensely  practical,  and  I  fancy 
that  Brunton  took  the  same  view.  He  had  probably  seen  it 
before  that  night  on  which  you  caught  him.' 


104  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

" '  It  is  very  possible.     We  took  no  pains  to  hide  it.' 

"'He  simply  wished,  I  should  imagine,  to  refresh  his 
memory  upon  that  last  occasion.  He  had,  as  I  understand, 
some  sort  of  map  or  chart  which  he  was  comparing  with  the 
manuscript,  and  which  he  thrust  into  his  pocket  when  you 
appeared.' 

" '  That  is  true.  But  what  could  he  have  to  do  with  this 
old  family  custom  of  ours,  and  what  does  this  rigmarole 
mean  ?' 

" '  I  don't  think  that  we  should  have  much  difficulty  in 
determining  that,'  said  I ;  'with  your  permission  we  will  take 
the  first  train  down  to  Sussex,  and  go  a  little  more  deeply 
into  the  matter  upon  the  spot.' 

"  The  same  afternoon  saw  us  both  at  Hurlstone.  Possibly 
you  have  seen  pictures  and  read  descriptions  of  the  famous 
old  building,  so  I  will  confine  my  account  of  it  to  saying  that 
it  is  built  in  the  shape  of  an  L,  the  long  arm  being  the  more 
modern  portion,  and  the  shorter  the  ancient  nucleus,  from 
which  the  other  has  developed.  Over  the  low,  heavy-lintelled 
door,  in  the  centre  of  this  old  part,  is  chiselled  the  date,  1607, 
but  experts  are  agreed  that  the  beams  and  stone-work  are 
really  much  older  than  this.  The  enormously  thick  walls  and 
tiny  windows  of  this  part  had  in  the  last  century  driven  the 
family  into  building  the  new  wing,  and  the  old  one  was  used 
now  as  a  store-house  and  a  cellar,  when  it  was  used  at  all.  A 
splendid  park  with  fine  old  timber  surrounds  the  house,  and 
the  lake,  to  which  my  client  had  referred,  lay  close  to  the 
avenue,  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  building. 

"  I  was  already  firmly  convinced,  Watson,  that  there  were 
not  three  separate  mysteries  here,  but  one  only,  and  that  if  I 
could  read  the  Musgrave  Ritual  aright  I  should  hold  in  my 
hand  the  clue  which  would  lead  me  to  the  truth  concerning 
both  the  butler  Brunton  and  the  maid  Howells.  To  that  then 
I  turned  all  my  energies.  Why  should  this  servant  be  so  anx- 
ious to  master  this  old  formula?  Evidently  because  he  saw 


THE   MUSGRAVE    RITUAL  105 

something  in  it  which  had  escaped  all  those  generations  of 
country  squires,  and  from  which  he  expected  some  personal 
advantage.  What  was  it  then,  and  how  had  it  affected  his 
fate? 

"It  was  perfectly  obvious  to  me,  on  reading  the  ritual,  that 
the  measurements  must  refer  to  some  spot  to  which  the  rest 
of  the  document  alluded,  and  that  if  we  could  find  that  spot, 
we  should  be  in  a  fair  way  towards  finding  what  the  secret 
was  which  the  old  Musgraves  had  thought  it  necessary  to 
embalm  in  so  curious  a  fashion.  There  were  two  guides 
given  us  to  start  with,  an  oak  and  an  elm.  As  to  the  oak 
there  could  be  no  question  at  all.  Right  in  front  of  the 
house,  upon  the  left-hand  side  of  the  drive,  there  stood  a 
patriarch  among  oaks,  one  of  the  most  magnificent  trees  that 
I  have  ever  seen. 

" '  That  was  there  when  your  ritual  was  drawn  up,'  said  I, 
as  we  drove  past  it. 

"  '  It  was  there  at  the  Norman  Conquest  in  all  probability,' 
he  answered.  '  It  has  a  girth  of  twenty-three  feet.' 

"  Here  was  one  of  my  fixed  points  secured. 

" '  Have  you  any  old  elms  ?'  I  asked. 

"'There  used  to  be  a  very  old  one  over  yonder,  but  it 
was  struck  by  lightning  ten  years  ago,  and  we  cut  down  the 
stump.' 

" '  You  can  see  where  it  used  to  be  ?* 

" '  Oh,  yes.' 

" '  There  are  no  other  elms  ?' 

"  '  No  old  ones,  but  plenty  of  beeches.' 

" '  I  should  like  to  see  where  it  grew.' 

"We  had  driven  up  in  a  dogcart,  and  my  client  led  me 
away  at  once,  without  our  entering  the  house,  to  the  scar  on 
the  lawn  where  the  elm  had  stood.  It  was  nearly  midway 
between  the  oak  and  the  house.  My  investigation  seemed  to 
be  progressing. 

" '  I  suppose  it  is  impossible  to  find  out  how  high  the  elm 
was  ?'  I  asked- 


106  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  '  I  can  give  you  it  at  once.     It  was  sixty-four  feet.' 

" '  How  do  you  come  to  know  it  ?'  I  asked,  in  surprise. 

" '  When  my  old  tutor  used  to  give  me  an  exercise  in 
onometry,  it  always  took  the  shape  of  measuring  heights. 
When  I  was  a  lad  I  worked  out  every  tree  and  building  in 
the  estate.' 

"  This  was  an  unexpected  piece  of  luck.  My  data  were 
coming  more  quickly  than  I  could  have  reasonably  hoped. 

" '  Tell  me/  I  asked,  '  did  your  butler  ever  ask  you  such  a 
question  ?' 

"  Reginald  Musgrave  looked  at  me  in  astonishment.  '  Now 
that  you  call  it  to  my  mind,'  he  answered,  '  Brunton  did  ask 
me  about  the  height  of  the  tree  some  months  ago,  in  connec- 
tion with  some  little  argument  with  the  groom.' 

"  This  was  excellent  news,  Watson,  for  it  showed  me  that  I 
was  on  the  right  road.  I  looked  up  at  the  sun.  It  was  low 
in  the  heavens,  and  I  calculated  that  in  less  than  an  hour  it 
would  lie  just  above  the  topmost  branches  of  the  old  oak. 
One  condition  mentioned  in  the  Ritual  would  then  be  fulfilled. 
And  the  shadow  of  the  elm  must  mean  the  farther  end  of  the 
shadow,  otherwise  the  trunk  would  have  been  chosen  as  the 
guide.  I  had,  then,  to  find  where  the  far  end  of  the  shadow 
would  fall  when  the  sun  was  just  clear  of  the  oak." 

"  That  must  have  been  difficult,  Holmes,  when  the  elm  was 
no  longer  there." 

"  Well,  at  least  I  knew  that  if  Brunton  could  do  it,  I  could 
also.  Besides,  there  was  no  real  difficulty.  I  went  with  Mus- 
grave to  his  study  and  whittled  myself  this  peg,  to  which  I 
tied  this  long  string  with  a  knot  at  each  yard.  Then  I  took 
two  lengths  of  a  fishing-rod,  which  came  to  just  six  feet,  and  I 
went  back  with  my  client  to  where  the  elm  had  been.  The 
sun  was  just  grazing  the  top  of  the  oak.  I  fastened  the  rod 
on  end,  marked  out  the  direction  of  the  shadow,  and  meas- 
ured it  It  was  nine  feet  in  length. 

"  Of  course  the  calculation  now  was  a  simple  one.  If  a  rod 
of  six  feet  threw  a  shadow  of  nine,  a  tree  of  sixty-four  feet 


THE    MUSGRAVE   RITUAL  107 

would  throw  one  of  ninety-six,  and  the  line  of  the  one  would 
of  course  be  the  line  of  the  other.  I  measured  out  the  dis- 
tance, which  brought  me  almost  to  the  wall  of  the  house,  and 
I  thrust  a  peg  into  the  spot.  You  can  imagine  my  exultation, 
Watson,  when  within  two  inches  of  my  peg  I  saw  a  conical 
depression  in  the  ground.  I  knew  that  it  was  the  mark  made 
by  Brunton  in  his  measurements,  and  that  I  was  still  upon  his 
trail. 

"  From  this  starting-point  I  proceeded  to  step,  having  first 
taken  the  cardinal  points  by  my  pocket-compass.  Ten  steps 
with  each  foot  took  me  along  parallel  with  the  wall  of  the 
house,  and  again  I  marked  my  spot  with  a  peg.  Then  I  care- 
fully paced  off  five  to  the  east  and  two  to  the  south.  It 
brought  me  to  the  very  threshold  of  the  old  door.  Two  steps 
to  the  west  meant  now  that  I  was  to  go  two  paces  down  the 
stone-flagged  passage,  and  this  was  the  place  indicated  by  the 
Ritual. 

"  Never  have  I  felt  such  a  cold  chill  of  disappointment, 
Watson.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  must  be 
some  radical  mistake  in  my  calculations.  The  setting  sun 
shone  full  upon  the  passage  floor,  and  I  could  see  that  the 
old,  foot -worn  gray  stones  with  which  it  was  paved  were 
firmly  cemented  together,  and  had  certainly  not  been  moved 
for  many  a  long  year.  Brunton  had  not  been  at  work  here. 
I  tapped  upon  the  floor,  but  it  sounded  the  same  all  over,  and 
there  was  no  sign  of  any  crack  or  crevice.  But,  fortunately, 
Musgrave,  who  had  begun  to  appreciate  the  meaning  of  my 
proceedings,  and  who  was  now  as  excited  as  myself,  took  out 
his  manuscript  to  check  my  calculations. 

"  '  And  under,'  he  cried.  '  You  have  omitted  the  "  and 
under." ' 

"  I  had  thought  that  it  meant  that  we  were  to  dig,  but  now, 
of  course,  I  saw  at  once  that  I  was  wrong.  '  There  is  a  cellar 
under  this  then  ?'  I  cried. 

"  '  Yes,  and  as  old  as  the  house.  Down  here,  through  this 
door.' 


105  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  We  went  down  a  winding  stone  stair,  and  my  companion, 
striking  a  match,  lit  a  large  lantern  which  stood  on  a  barrel 
in  the  corner.  In  an  instant  it  was  obvious  that  we  had  at  last 
come  upon  the  true  place,  and  that  we  had  not  been  the  only 
people  to  visit  the  spot  recently. 

"  It  had  been  used  for  the  storage  of  wood,  but  the  billets, 
which  had  evidently  been  littered  over  the  floor,  were  now 
piled  at  the  sides,  so  as  to  leave  a  clear  space  in  the  middle. 
In  this  space  lay  a  large  and  heavy  flagstone  with  a  rusted 
iron  ring  in  the  centre  to  which  a  thick  shepherd's-check  muf- 
fler was  attached. 

" '  By  Jove !'  cried  my  client.  '  That's  Brunton's  muffler.  I 
have  seen  it  on  him,  and  could  swear  to  it.  What  has  the  vil- 
lain been  doing  here  ?' 

"  At  my  suggestion  a  couple  of  the  county  police  were  sum- 
moned to  be  present,  and  I  then  endeavored  to  raise  the  stone 
by  pulling  on  the  cravat.  I  could  only  move  it  slightly,  and  it 
was  with  the  aid  of  one  of  the  constables  that  I  succeeded  at 
last  in  carrying  it  to  one  side.  A  black  hole  yawned  beneath 
into  which  we  all  peered,  while  Musgrave,  kneeling  at  the  side, 
pushed  down  the  lantern. 

"A  small  chamber  about  seven  feet  deep  and  four  feet 
square  lay  open  to  us.  At  one  side  of  this  was  a  squat,  brass- 
bound  wooden  box,  the  lid  of  which  was  hinged  upwards,  with 
this  curious  old-fashioned  key  projecting  from  the  lock.  It 
was  furred  outside  by  a  thick  layer  of  dust,  and  damp  and 
worms  had  eaten  through  the  wood,  so  that  a  crop  of  livid 
fungi  was  growing  on  the  inside  of  it.  Several  discs  of 
metal,  old  coins  apparently,  such  as  I  hold  here,  were  scat- 
tered over  the  bottom  of  the  box,  but  it  contained  nothing 
else. 

"  At  the  moment,  however,  we  had  no  thought  for  the  old 
chest,  for  our  eyes  were  riveted  upon  that  which  crouched 
beside  it.  It  was  the  figure  of  a  man,  clad  in  a  suit  of  black, 
who  squatted  down  upon  his  hams  with  his  forehead  sunk 
upen  the  edge  of  the  box  and  his  two  arms  thrown  out  on 


THE   MUSGRAVE   RITUAL  109 

each  side  of  it.  The  attitude  had  drawn  all  the  stagnant 
blood  to  the  face,  and  no  man  could  have  recognized  that 
distorted  liver-colored  countenance ;  but  his  height,  his  dress, 
and  his  hair  were  all  sufficient  to  show  my  client,  when  we 
had  drawn  the  body  up,  that  it  was  indeed  his  missing  butler. 
He  had  been  dead  some  days,  but  there  was  no  wound  or 
bruise  upon  his  person  to  show  how  he  had  met  his  dreadful 
end.  When  his  body  had  been  carried  from  the  cellar  we 
found  ourselves  still  confronted  with  a  problem  which  was 
almost  as  formidable  as  that  with  which  we  had  started. 

"  I  confess  that  so  far,  Watson,  I  had  been  disappointed  in 
my  investigation.  I  had  reckoned  upon  solving  the  matter 
when  once  I  had  found  the  place  referred  to  in  the  Ritual ; 
but  now  I  was  there,  and  was  apparently  as  far  as  ever  from 
knowing  what  it  was  which  the  family  had  concealed  with 
such  elaborate  precautions.  It  is  true  that  I  had  thrown  a 
light  upon  the  fate  of  Brunton,  but  now  I  had  to  ascertain 
how  that  fate  had  come  upon  him,  and  what  part  had  been 
played  in  the  matter  by  the  woman  who  had  disappeared.  I 
sat  down  upon  a  keg  in  the  corner  and  thought  the  whole 
matter  carefully  over. 

"You  know  my  methods  in  such  cases,  Watson.  I  put 
myself  in  the  man's  place  and,  having  first  gauged  his  intelli- 
gence, I  try  to  imagine  how  I  should  myself  have  proceeded 
under  the  same  circumstances.  In  this  case  the  matter  was 
simplified  by  Brunton's  intelligence  being  quite  first-rate,  so 
that  it  was  unnecessary  to  make  any  allowance  for  the  per- 
sonal equation,  as  the  astronomers  have  dubbed  it.  He  knew 
that  something  valuable  was  concealed.  He  had  spotted  the 
place.  He  found  that  the  stone  which  covered  it  was  just  too 
heavy  for  a  man  to  move  unaided.  What  would  he  do  next  ? 
He  could  not  get  help  from  outside,  even  if  he  had  some  one 
whom  he  could  trust,  without  the  unbarring  of  doors  and  con- 
siderable risk  of  detection.  It  was  better,  if  he  could,  to  have 
his  helpmate  inside  the  house.  But  whom  could  he  ask  ?  This 
girl  had  been  devoted  to  him.  A  man  always  finds  it  hard  tq 


HO  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

realize  that  he  may  have  finally  lost  a  woman's  love,  however 
badly  he  may  have  treated  her.  He  would  try  by  a  few  atten- 
tions to  make  his  peace  with  the  girl  Howells,  and  then  would 
engage  her  as  his  accomplice.  Together  they  would  come  at 
night  to  the  cellar,  and  their  united  force  would  suffice  to 
raise  the  stone.  So  far  I  could  follow  their  actions  as  if  I 
had  actually  seen  them. 

"  But  for  two  of  them,  and  one  a  woman,  it  must  have  been 
heavy  work  the  raising  of  that  stone.  A  burly  Sussex  police- 
man and  I  had  found  it  no  light  job.  What  would  they  do 
to  assist  them  ?  Probably  what  I  should  have  done  myself. 
I  rose  and  examined  carefully  the  different  billets  of  wood 
which  were  scattered  round  the  floor.  Almost  at  once  I 
came  upon  what  I  expected.  One  piece,  about  three  feet  in 
length,  had  a  very  marked  indentation  at  one  end,  while  sev- 
eral were  flattened  at  the  sides  as  if  they  had  been  com- 
pressed by  some  considerable  weight.  Evidently,  as  they 
had  dragged  the  stone  up  they  had  thrust  the  chunks  of 
wood  into  the  chink,  until  at  last,  when  the  opening  was  large 
enough  to  crawl  through,  they  would  hold  it  open  by  a  billet 
placed  lengthwise,  which  might  very  well  become  indented  at 
the  lower  end,  since  the  whole  weight  of  the  stone  would  press 
it  down  on  to  the  edge  of  this  other  slab.  So  far  I  was  still 
on  safe  ground. 

"  And  now  how  was  I  to  proceed  to  reconstruct  this  mid- 
night drama?  Clearly,  only  one  could  fit  into  the  hole,  and 
that  one  was  Brunton.  The  girl  must  have  waited  above. 
Brunton  then  unlocked  the  box,  handed  up  the  contents  pre- 
sumably— since  they  were  not  to  be  found — and  then — and 
then  what  happened  ? 

"  What  smouldering  fire  of  vengeance  had  suddenly  sprung 
into  flame  in  this  passionate  Celtic  woman's  soul  when  she  saw 
the  man  who  had  wronged  her  —  wronged  her,  perhaps,  far 
more  than  we  suspected — in  her  power  ?  Was  it  a  chance  that 
the  wood  had  slipped,  and  that  the  stone  had  shut  Brunton  into 
what  had  become  his  sepulchre  ?  Had  she  only  been  guilty 


THE    MUSGRAVE    RITUAL  III 

of  silence  as  to  his  fate  ?  Or  had  some  sudden  blow  from 
her  hand  dashed  the  support  away  and  sent  the  slab  crashing 
down  into  its  place  ?  Be  that  as  it  might,  I  seemed  to  see  that 
woman's  figure  still  clutching  at  her  treasure  trove  and  flying 
wildly  up  the  winding  stair,  with  her  ears  ringing  perhaps 
with  the  muffled  screams  from  behind  her  and  with  the  drum- 
ming of  frenzied  hands  against  the  slab  of  stone  which  was 
choking  her  faithless  lover's  life  out. 

"Here  was  the  secret  of  her  blanched  face,  her  shaken 
nerves,  her  peals  of  hysterical  laughter  on  the  next  morning. 
But  what  had  been  in  the  box?  What  had  she  done  with 
that  ?  Of  course,  it  must  have  been  the  old  metal  and  peb- 
bles which  my  client  had  dragged  from  the  mere.  She  had 
thrown  them  in  there  at  the  first  opportunity  to  remove  the 
last  trace  of  her  crime. 

"  For  twenty  minutes  I  had  sat  motionless,  thinking  the 
matter  out  Musgrave  still  stood  with  a  very  pale  face,  swing- 
ing his  lantern  and  peering  down  into  the  hole. 

" l  These  are  coins  of  Charles  the  First,'  said  he,  holding  out 
the  few  which  had  been  in  the  box ;  '  you  see  we  were  right  in 
fixing  our  date  for  the  Ritual.' 

" '  We  may  find  something  else  of  Charles  the  First,'  I  cried, 
as  the  probable  meaning  of  the  first  two  questions  of  the  Rit- 
ual broke  suddenly  upon  me.  '  Let  me  see  the  contents  of 
the  bag  which  you  fished  from  the  mere.' 

"  We  ascended  to  his  study,  and  he  laid  the  debris  before 
me.  I  could  understand  his  regarding  it  as  of  small  impor- 
tance when  I  looked  at  it,  for  the  metal  was  almost  black  and 
the  stones  lustreless  and  dull.  I  rubbed  one  of  them  on  my 
sleeve,  however,  and  it  glowed  afterwards  like  a  spark  in  the 
dark  hollow  of  my  hand.  The  metal  work  was  in  the  form 
of  a  double  ring,  but  it  had  been  bent  and  twisted  out  of  its 
original  shape. 

"'You  must  bear  in  mind,'  said  I,  'that  the  royal  party 
made  head  in  England  even  after  the  death  of  the  king,  and 
that  when  they  at  last  fled  they  probably  left  many  of  their 


112  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

most  precious  possessions  buried  behind  them,  with  the  in- 
tention of  returning  for  them  in  more  peaceful  times.' 

"  '  My  ancestor,  Sir  Ralph  Musgrave,  was  a  prominent  Cav- 
alier and  the  right-hand  man  of  Charles  the  Second  in  his 
wanderings,'  said  my  friend. 

"  '  Ah,  indeed  !'  I  answered.  '  Well  now,  I  think  that  really 
should  give  us  the  last  link  that  we  wanted.  I  must  congrat- 
ulate you  on  coming  into  the  possession,  though  in  rather  a 
tragic  manner,  of  a  relic  which  is  of  great  intrinsic  value,  but 
of  even  greater  importance  as  an  historical  curiosity.' 

" '  What  is  it,  then  ?'  he  gasped  in  astonishment. 

" '  It  is  nothing  less  than  the  ancient  crown  of  the  kings 
of  England.' 

" '  The  crown !' 

"  *  Precisely.  Consider  what  the  Ritual  says.  How  does 
it  run  ?  "  Whose  was  it  ?"  "  His  who  is  gone."  That  was 
after  the  execution  of  Charles.  Then,  "  Who  shall  have  it  ?" 
"  He  who  will  come."  That  was  Charles  the  Second,  whose 
advent  was  already  foreseen.  There  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt 
that  this  battered  and  shapeless  diadem  once  encircled  the 
brows  of  the  royal  Stuarts.' 

"  '  And  how  came  it  in  the  pond  ?' 

** '  Ah,  that  is  a  question  that  will  take  some  time  to  an- 
swer.' And  with  that  I  sketched  out  to  him  the  whole  long 
chain  of  surmise  and  of  proof  which  I  had  constructed.  The 
twilight  had  closed  in  and  the  moon  was  shining  brightly  in 
the  sky  before  my  narrative  was  finished. 

u  *  And  how  was  it  then  that  Charles  did  not  get  his  crown 
when  he  returned?'  asked  Musgrave,  pushing  back  the  relic 
into  its  linen  bag. 

'* '  Ah,  there  you  lay  your  finger  upon  the  one  point  which 
we  shall  probably  never  be  able  to  clear  up.  It  is  likely  that 
the  Musgrave  who  held  the  secret  died  in  the  interval,  and 
by  some  oversight  left  this  guide  to  his  descendant  without 
explaining  the  meaning  of  it.  From  that  day  to  this  it  has 
been  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  until  at  last  it  came 


THE   MUSGRAVE    RITUAL  IIJ 

within  reach  of  a  man  who  tore  its  secret  out  of  it  and  lost 
his  life  in  the  venture.' 

"And  that's  the  story  of  the  Musgrave  Ritual,  Watson. 
They  have  the  crown  down  at  Hurlstone — though  they  had 
some  legal  bother  and  a  considerable  sum  to  pay  before  they 
were  allowed  to  retain  it.  I  am  sure  that  if  you  mentioned 
my  name  they  would  be  happy  to  show  it  to  you.  Of  the 
woman  nothing  was  ever  heard,  and  the  probability  is  that 
she  got  away  out  of  England  and  carried  herself  and  the 
memory  of  ner  crime  to  some  land  beyond  the  seas." 


BOventure  flDfff 

THE   REIGATE  PUZZLE 

was  some  time  before  the  health  of  my  friend 
Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes  recovered  from  the  strain 
caused  by  his  immense  exertions  in  the  spring 
of  '87.  The  whole  question  of  the  Netherland- 
Sumatra  Company  and  of  the  colossal  schemes 
of  Baron  Maupertuis  are  too  recent  in  the  minds  of  the 
public,  and  are  too  intimately  concerned  with  politics  and 
finance  to  be  fitting  subjects  for  this  series  of  sketches. 
They  led,  however,  in  an  indirect  fashion  to  a  singular  and 
complex  problem  which  gave  my  friend  an  opportunity  of 
demonstrating  the  value  of  a  fresh  weapon  among  the  many 
with  which  he  waged  his  life-long  battle  against  crime. 

On  referring  to  my  notes  I  see  that  it  was  upon  the  i4th  of 
April  that  I  received  a  telegram  from  Lyons  which  informed 
me  that  Holmes  was  lying  ill  in  the  Hotel  Dulong.  Within 
twenty-four  hours  I  was  in  his  sick-room,  and  was  relieved 
to  find  that  there  was  nothing  formidable  in  his  symptoms. 
Even  his  iron  constitution,  however,  had  broken  down  under 
the  strain  of  an  investigation  which  had  extended  over  two 
months,  during  which  period  he  had  never  worked  less  than 
fifteen  hours  a  day,  and  had  more  than  once,  as  he  assured 
me,  kept  to  his  task  for  five  days  at  a  stretch.  Even  the 
triumphant  issue  of  his  labors  could  not  save  him  from  reac- 
tion after  so  terrible  an  exertion,  and  at  a  time  when  Europe 
was  ringing  with  his  name  and  when  his  room  was  literally 
ankle-deep  with  congratulatory  telegrams  I  found  him  a  prey 
to  the  blackest  depression.  Even  the  knowledge  that  he  had 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  115 

succeeded  where  the  police  of  three  countries  had  failed,  and 
that  he  had  outmanoeuvred  at  every  point  the  most  accom- 
plished swindler  in  Europe,  was  insufficient  to  rouse  him  from 
his  nervous  prostration. 

Three  days  later  we  were  back  in  Baker  Street  together ; 
but  it  was  evident  that  my  friend  would  be  much  the  better 
for  a  change,  and  the  thought  of  a  week  of  spring  time  in  the 
country  was  full  of  attractions  to  me  also.  My  old  friend, 
Colonel  Hayter,  who  had  come  under  my  professional  care  in 
Afghanistan,  had  now  taken  a  house  near  Reigate  in  Surrey, 
and  had  frequently  asked  me  to  come  down  to  him  upon  a 
visit.  On  the  last  occasion  he  had  remarked  that  if  my  friend 
would  only  come  with  me  he  would  be  glad  to  extend  his 
hospitality  to  him  also.  A  little  diplomacy  was  needed,  but 
when  Holmes  understood  that  the  establishment  was  a  bach- 
elor one,  and  that  he  would  be  allowed  the  fullest  freedom, 
he  fell  in  with  my  plans  and  a  week  after  our  return  from 
Lyons  we  were  under  the  Colonel's  roof.  Hayter  was  a 
fine  old  soldier  who  had  seen  much  of  the  world,  and  he  soon 
found,  as  I  had  expected,  that  Holmes  and  he  had  much  in 
common. 

On  the  evening  of  our  arrival  we  were  sitting  in  the  Colo- 
nel's gun-room  after  dinner,  Holmes  stretched  upon  the  sofa, 
while  Hayter  and  I  looked  over  his  little  armory  of  Eastern 
weapons. 

"  By  the  way,"  said  he  suddenly,  "  I  think  I'll  take  one  of 
these  pistols  upstairs  with  me  in  case  we  have  an  alarm." 

"  An  alarm  !"  said  I. 

"  Yes,  we've  had  a  scare  in  this  part  lately.  Old  Acton, 
who  is  one  of  our  county  magnates,  had  his  house  broken  into 
last  Monday.  No  great  damage  done,  but  the  fellows  are 
still  at  large." 

"  No  clue  ?"  asked  Holmes,  cocking  his  eye  at  the  Colonel. 

"  None  as  yet.  But  the  affair  is  a  petty  one,  one  of  our 
little  country  crimes,  which  must  seem  too  small  for  your 
attention,  Mr.  Holmes,  after  this  great  international  affair." 


Il6  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

Holmes  waved  away  the  compliment,  though  his  smile 
showed  that  it  had  pleased  him. 

"  Was  there  any  feature  of  interest  ?" 

"  I  fancy  not.  The  thieves  ransacked  the  library  and  got 
very  little  for  their  pains.  The  whole  place  was  turned  upside 
down,  drawers  burst  open,  and  presses  ransacked,  with  the 
result  that  an  odd  volume  of  Pope's  '  Homer,'  two  plated  can- 
dlesticks, an  ivory  letter-weight,  a  small  oak  barometer,  and 
a  ball  of  twine  are  all  that  have  vanished." 

"  What  an  extraordinary  assortment !"  I  exclaimed. 

"  Oh,  the  fellows  evidently  grabbed  hold  of  everything  they 
could  get." 

Holmes  grunted  from  the  sofa. 

"The  county  police  ought  to  make  something  of  that," 
said  he ;  "  why,  it  is  surely  obvious  that — " 

But  I  held  up  a  warning  finger. 

"  You  are  here  for  a  rest,  my  dear  fellow.  For  Heaven's 
sake  don't  get  started  on  a  new  problem  when  your  nerves 
are  all  in  shreds." 

Holmes  shrugged  his  shoulders  with  a  glance  of  comic  res- 
ignation towards  the  Colonel,  and  the  talk  drifted  away  into 
less  dangerous  channels. 

It  was  destined,  however,  that  all  my  professional  caution 
should  be  wasted,  for  next  morning  the  problem  obtruded  it- 
self upon  us  in  such  a  way  that  it  was  impossible  to  ignore  it, 
and  our  country  visit  took  a  turn  which  neither  of  us  could 
have  anticipated.  We  were  at  breakfast  when  the  Colonel's 
butler  rushed  in  with  all  his  propriety  shaken  out  of  him. 

"  Have  you  heard  the  news,  sir  ?"  he  gasped.  "  At  the  Cun- 
ningham's, sir!" 

"  Burglary!"  cried  the  Colonel,  with  his  coffee-cup  in  mid-air. 

"Murder!" 

The  Colonel  whistled.  "  By  Jove !"  said  he.  "  Who's  killed, 
then  ?  The  J.  P.  or  his  son  ?" 

"  Neither,  sir.  It  was  William  the  coachman.  Shot  through 
the  heart,  sir,  and  never  spoke  again." 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  llj 

"  Wko  shot  him,  then  ?" 

"The  burglar,  sir.  He  was  off  like  a  shot  and  got  clean 
away.  He'd  just  broke  in  at  the  pantry  window  when  Will- 
iam came  on  him  and  met  his  end  in  saving  his  master's 
property." 

"  What  time  ?" 

"  It  was  last  night,  sir,  somewhere  about  twelve." 

"Ah,  then,  we'll  step  over  afterwards,"  said  the  Colonel, 
coolly  settling  down  to  his  breakfast  again.  "  It's  a  bad- 
dish  business,"  he  added  when  the  butler  had  gone :  "  he's 
our  leading  man  about  here,  is  old  Cunningham,  and  a  very 
decent  fellow  too.  He'll  be  cut  up  over  this,  for  the  man 
has  been  in  his  service  for  years  and  was  a  good  servant 
It's  evidently  the  same  villains  who  broke  into  Acton's." 

"And  stole  that  very  singular  collection,"  said  Holmes, 
thoughtfully. 

"Precisely." 

"  Hum !  It  may  prove  the  simplest  matter  in  the  world, 
but  all  the  same  at  first  glance  this  is  just  a  little  curious,  is 
it  not?  A  gang  of  burglars  acting  in  the  country  might  be 
expected  to  vary  the  scene  of  their  operations,  and  not  to 
crack  two  cribs  in  the  same  district  within  a  few  days.  When 
you  spoke  last  night  of  taking  precautions  I  remember  that  it 
passed  through  my  mind  that  this  was  probably  the  last  par- 
ish in  England  to  which  the  thief  or  thieves  would  be  likely 
to  turn  their  attention — which  shows  that  I  have  still  mudh 
to  learn." 

"  I  fancy  it's  some  local  practitioner,"  said  the  Colonel. 
"  In  that  case,  of  course,  Acton's  and  Cunningham's  are  just 
the  places  he  would  go  for,  since  they  are  far  the  largest 
about  here." 

"  And  richest  ?" 

"Well,  they  ought  to  be,  but  they've  had  a  lawsuit  for 
some  years  which  has  sucked  the  blood  out  of  both  of  them, 
I  fancy.  Old  Acton  has  some  claim  on  half  Cunningham's 
estate,  and  the  lawyers  have  been  at  it  with  both  hands." 


Il8  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  If  it's  a  local  villain  there  should  not  be  much  difficulty 
in  running  him  down,"  said  Holmes  with  a  yawn.  "  All  right, 
Watson,  I  don't  intend  to  meddle." 

"  Inspector  Forrester,  sir,"  said  the  butler,  throwing  open 
the  door. 

The  official,  a  smart,  keen-faced  young  fellow,  stepped  into 
the  room.  "  Good-morning,  Colonel,"  said  he ;  "I  hope  I 
don't  intrude,  but  we  hear  that  Mr.  Holmes  of  Baker  Street  is 
here." 

The  Colonel  waved  his  hand  towards  my  friend,  and  the 
Inspector  bowed. 

"  We  thought  that  perhaps  you  would  care  to  step  across, 
Mr.  Holmes." 

"The  fates  are  against  you,  Watson,"  said  he,  laughing. 
"We  were  chatting  about  the  matter  when  you  came  in,  In- 
spector. Perhaps  you  can  let  us  have  a  few  details."  As  he 
leaned  back  in  his  chair  in  the  familiar  attitude  I  knew  that 
the  case  was  hopeless. 

"We  had  no  clue  in  the  Acton  affair.  But  here  we  have 
plenty  to  go  on,  and  there's  no  doubt  it  is  the  same  party  in 
each  case.  The  man  was  seen." 

"Ah!" 

"  Yes,  sir.  But  he  was  off  like  a  deer  after  the  shot  that 
killed  poor  William  Kirwan  was  fired.  Mr.  Cunningham  saw 
him  from  the  bedroom  window,  and  Mr.  Alec  Cunningham 
saw  him  from  the  back  passage.  It  was  quarter  to  twelve 
when  the  alarm  broke  out.  Mr.  Cunningham  had  just  got 
into  bed,  and  Mr.  Alec  was  smoking  a  pipe  in  his  dressing- 
gown.  They  both  heard  William  the  coachman  calling  for 
help,  and  Mr.  Alec  ran  down  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  The 
back  door  was  open,  and  as  he  came  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs 
he  saw  two  men  wrestling  together  outside.  One  of  them 
fired  a  shot,  the  other  dropped,  and  the  murderer  rushed 
across  the  garden  and  over  the  hedge.  Mr.  Cunningham, 
looking  out  of  his  bedroom,  saw  the  fellow  as  he  gained  the 
road,  but  lost  sight  of  him  at  once.  Mr.  Alec  stopped  to 


THE   REIGATE    PUZZLE  119 

see  if  he  could  help  the  dying  man,  and  so  the  villain  got 
clean  away.  Beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  a  middle-sized  man 
and  dressed  in  some  dark  stuff,  we  have  no  personal  clue; 
but  we  are  making  energetic  inquiries,  and  if  he  is  a  stranger 
we  shall  soon  find  him  out." 

"  What  was  this  William  doing  there  ?  Did  he  say  anything 
before  he  died  ?" 

"  Not  a  word.  He  lives  at  the  lodge  with  his  mother,  and 
as  he  was  a  very  faithful  fellow  we  imagine  that  he  walked  up 
to  the  house  with  the  intention  of  seeing  that  all  was  right 
there.  Of  course  this  Acton  business  has  put  every  one  on 
their  guard.  The  robber  must  have  just  burst  open  the  door 
— the  lock  has  been  forced — when  William  came  upon  him." 

"  Did  William  say  anything  to  his  mother  before  going  out?" 

"  She  is  very  old  and  deaf,  and  we  can  get  no  information 
from  her.  The  shock  has  made  her  half-witted,  but  I  under- 
stand that  she  was  never  very  bright.  There  is  one  very  im- 
portant circumstance,  however.  Look  at  this !" 

He  took  a  small  piece  of  torn  paper  from  a  note-book  and 
spread  it  out  upon  his  knee. 

"  This  was  found  between  the  finger  and  thumb  of  the  dead 
man.  It  appears  to  be  a  fragment  torn  from  a  larger  sheet. 
You  will  observe  that  the  hour  mentioned  upon  it  is  the  very 
time  at  which  the  poor  fellow  met  his  fate.  You  see  that  his 
murderer  might  have  torn  the  rest  of  the  sheet  from  him  or 
he  might  have  taken  this  fragment  from  the  murderer.  It 
reads  almost  as  though  it  were  an  appointment." 

Holmes  took  up  the  scrap  of  paper,  a  fac-simile  of  which  is 
here  reproduced. 


120  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  Presuming  that  it  is  an  appointment,"  continued  the  In- 
spector, "  it  is  of  course  a  conceivable  theory  that  this  William 
Kirwan  —  though  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  an  honest 
man,  may  have  been  in  league  with  the  thief.  He  may  have 
met  him  there,  may  even  have  helped  him  to  break  in  the 
door,  and  then  they  may  have  fallen  out  between  themselves." 

"  This  writing  is  of  extraordinary  interest,"  said  Holmes, 
who  had  been  examining  it  with  intense  concentration. 
"These  are  much  deeper  waters  than  I  had  thought."  He 
sank  his  head  upon  his  hands,  while  the  Inspector  smiled  at 
the  effect  which  his  case  had  had  upon  the  famous  London 
specialist. 

"Your  last  remark,"  said  Holmes,  presently,  "as  to  the 
possibility  of  there  being  an  understanding  between  the  burg- 
lar and  the  servant,  and  this  being  a  note  of  appointment 
from  one  to  the  other,  is  an  ingenious  and  not  entirely  impos- 
sible supposition.  But  this  writing  opens  up — "  He  sank  his 
head  into  his  hands  again  and  remained  for  some  minutes 
in  the  deepest  thought.  When  he  raised  his  face  again,  I  was 
surprised  to  see  that  his  cheek  was  tinged  with  color,  and  his 
eyes  as  bright  as  before  his  illness.  He  sprang  to  his  feet 
with  all  his  old  energy. 

"  I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  he,  "  I  should  like  to  have  a 
quiet  little  glance  into  the  details  of  this  case.  There  is 
something  in  it  which  fascinates  me  extremely.  If  you  will 
permit  me,  Colonel,  I  will  leave  my  friend  Watson  and  you, 
and  I  will  step  round  with  the  Inspector  to  test  the  truth  of 
one  or  two  little  fancies  of  mine.  I  will  be  with  you  again  in 
half  an  hour." 

An  hour  and  a  half  had  elapsed  before  the  Inspector  re- 
turned alone. 

"  Mr.  Holmes  is  walking  up  and  down  in  the  field  outside," 
said  he.  "  He  wants  us  all  four  to  go  up  to  the  house  to- 
gether." 

" To  Mr.  Cunningham's?" 
"Yes,  sir." 


THE  REIGATE   PUZZLE  121 

What  for?" 

The  Inspector  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  I  don't  quite 
know,  sir.  Between  ourselves,  I  think  Mr.  Holmes  has  not 
quite  got  over  his  illness  yet.  He's  been  behaving  very 
queer  ly,  and  he  is  very  much  excited." 

"  I  don't  think  you  need  alarm  yourself,"  said  I.  "  I  have 
usually  found  that  there  was  method  in  his  madness." 

"  Some  folk  might  say  there  was  madness  in  his  method," 
muttered  the  Inspector.  "  But  he's  all  on  fire  to  start,  Colo- 
nel, so  we  had  best  go  out  if  you  are  ready." 

We  found  Holmes  pacing  up  and  down  in  the  field,  his 
chin  sunk  upon  his  breast,  and  his  hands  thrust  into  his 
trousers  pockets. 

"  The  matter  grows  in  interest,"  said  he.  "  Watson,  your 
country-trip  has  been  a  distinct  success.  I  have  had  a  charm- 
ing morning." 

"You  have  been  up  to  the  scene  of  the  crime,  I  under- 
stand," said  the  Colonel. 

"  Yes ;  the  Inspector  and  I  have  made  quite  a  little  re- 
connoissance  together." 

"  Any  success  ?" 

"  Well,  we  have  seen  some  very  interesting  things.  I'll  tell 
you  what  we  did  as  we  walk.  First  of  all,  we  saw  the  body 
of  this  unfortunate  man.  He  certainly  died  from  a  revolver 
wound  as  reported." 

"  Had  you  doubted  it,  then  ?" 

"  Oh,  it  is  as  well  to  test  everything.  Our  inspection  was 
not  wasted.  We  then  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Cunningham 
and  his  son,  who  were  able  to  point  out  the  exact  spot  where 
the  murderer  had  broken  through  the  garden -hedge  in  his 
flight.  That  was  of  great  interest." 

"  Naturally." 

"Then  we  had  a  look  at  this  poor  fellow's  mother.  We 
could  get  no  information  from  her,  however,  as  she  is  very 
old  and  feeble." 

"  And  what  is  the  result  of  your  iavestigations  ?" 


122  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"The  conviction  that  the  crime  is  a  very  peculiar  one. 
Perhaps  our  visit  now  may  do  something  to  make  it  less  ob- 
scure. I  think  that  we  are  both  agreed,  Inspector,  that  the 
fragment  of  paper  in  the  dead  man's  hand,  bearing,  as  it  does, 
the  very  hour  of  his  death  written  upon  it,  is  of  extreme  im- 
portance." 

"  It  should  give  a  clue,  Mr.  Holmes." 

"  It  does  give  a  clue.  Whoever  wrote  that  note  was  the 
man  who  brought  William  Kirwan  out  of  his  bed  at  that 
hour.  But  where  is  the  rest  of  that  sheet  of  paper  ?" 

"  I  examined  the  ground  carefully  in  the  hope  of  finding  it," 
said  the  Inspector. 

"  It  was  torn  out  of  the  dead  man's  hand.  Why  was  some 
one  so  anxious  to  get  possession  of  it  ?  Because  it  incrimi- 
nated him.  And  what  would  he  do  with  it  ?  Thrust  it  into 
his  pocket,  most  likely,  never  noticing  that  a  corner  of  it  had 
been  left  in  the  grip  of  the  corpse.  If  we  could  get  the  rest 
of  that  sheet  it  is  obvious  that  we  should  have  gone  a  long 
way  towards  solving  the  mystery." 

"  Yes,  but  how  can  we  get  at  the  criminal's  pocket  before 
we  catch  the  criminal  ?" 

"  Well,  well,  it  was  worth  thinking  over.  Then  there  is  an- 
other obvious  point.  The  note  was  sent  to  William.  The  man 
who  wrote  it  could  not  have  taken  it ;  otherwise,  of  course,  he 
might  have  delivered  his  own  message  by  word  of  mouth.  Who 
brought  the  note,  then  ?  Or  did  it  come  through  the  post  ?" 

"  I  have  made  inquiries,"  said  the  Inspector.  "  William  re- 
ceived a  letter  by  the  afternoon  post  yesterday.  The  enve- 
lope was  destroyed  by  him." 

"  Excellent !"  cried  Holmes,  clapping  the  Inspector  on  the 
back.  "  You've  seen  the  postman.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  work 
w4th  you.  Well,  here  is  the  lodge,  and  if  you  will  come  up, 
Colonel,  I  will  show  you  the  scene  of  the  crime." 

We  passed  the  pretty  cottage  where  the  murdered  man  had 
lived,  and  walked  up  an  oak-lined  avenue  to  the  fine  old  Queen 
Anne  house,  which  bears  the  date  of  Malplaquet  upon  the 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  123 

lintel  of  the  door.  Holmes  and  the  Inspector  led  IK  round  it 
until  we  came  to  the  side  gate,  which  is  separated  by  a  stretch 
of  garden  from  the  hedge  which  lines  the  road.  A  constable 
was  standing  at  the  kitchen  door. 

"  Throw  the  door  open,  officer,"  said  Holmes.  "  Now,  it  was 
on  those  stairs  that  young  Mr.  Cunningham  stood  and  saw  the 
two  men  struggling  just  where  we  are.  Old  Mr.  Cunningham 
was  at  that  window — the  second  on  the  left — and  he  saw  the 
fellow  get  away  just  to  the  left  of  that  bush.  So  did  the  son. 
They  are  both  sure  of  it  on  account  of  the  bush.  Then  Mr. 
Alec  ran  out  and  knelt  beside  the  wounded  man.  The  ground 
is  very  hard,  you  see,  and  there  are  no  marks  to  guide  us."  As 
he  spoke  two  men  came  down  the  garden  path,  from  round 
the  angle  of  the  house.  The  one  was  an  elderly  man,  with  a 
strong,  deep-lined,  heavy-eyed  face ;  the  other  a  dashing  young 
fellow,  whose  bright,  smiling  expression  and  showy  dress  were 
in  strange  contrast  with  the  business  which  had  brought  us 
there. 

"  Still  at  it,  then  ?"  said  he  to  Holmes.  "  I  thought  you 
Londoners  were  never  at  fault.  You  don't  seem  to  be  so  very 
quick,  after  all." 

"  Ah,  you  must  give  us  a  little  time,"  said  Holmes,  good- 
humoredly. 

"  You'll  want  it,"  said  young  Alec  Cunningham.  "  Why,  I 
don't  see  that  we  have  any  clue  at  all." 

"  There's  only  one,"  answered  the  Inspector.  "  We  thought 
that  if  we  could  only  find —  Good  heavens,  Mr.  Holmes ! 
what  is  the  matter  ?" 

My  poor  friend's  face  had  suddenly  assumed  the  most 
dreadful  expression.  His  eyes  rolled  upwards,  his  features 
writhed  in  agony,  and  with  a  suppressed  groan  he  dropped  on 
his  face  upon  the  ground.  Horrified  at  the  suddenness  and 
severity  of  the  attack,  we  carried  him  into  the  kitchen,  where 
he  lay  back  in  a  large  chair,  and  breathed  heavily  for  some 
minutes.  Finally,  with  a  shamefaced  apology  for  his  weak- 
ness, he  rose  once  more 


124  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK.   HOLMES 

"Watson  would  tell  you  that  I  have  only  just  recovered 
from  a  severe  illness,"  he  explained.  "  I  am  liable  to  these 
sudden  nervous  attacks." 

"  Shall  I  send  you  home  in  my  trap  ?"  asked  old  Cunning- 
ham. 

"  Well,  since  I  am  here,  there  is  one  point  on  which  I  should 
like  to  feel  sure.  We  can  very  easily  verify  it." 

"What  was  it?" 

"  Well,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  just  possible  that  the  arrival 
of  this  poor  fellow  William  was  not  before,  but  after,  the  en- 
trance of  the  burglar  into  the  house.  You  appear  to  take  it 
for  granted  that,  although  the  door  was  forced,  the  robber 
never  got  in." 

"I  fancy  that  is  quite  obvious,"  said  Mr.  Cunningham, 
gravely.  "Why,  my  son  Alec  had  not  yet  gone  to  bed,  and 
he  would  certainly  have  heard  any  one  moving  about" 

"  Where  was  he  sitting  ?" 

"  I  was  smoking  in  my  dressing-room." 

"Which  window  is  that?" 

"The  last  on  the  left,  next  my  father's.'* 

"  Both  of  your  lamps  were  lit,  of  course  ?" 

"Undoubtedly." 

"There  are  some  very  singular  points  here,"  said  Holmes, 
smiling.  "  Is  it  not  extraordinary  that  a  burglar — and  a  burg- 
lar who  had  had  some  previous  experience — should  deliber- 
ately break  into  a  house  at  a  time  when  he  could  see  from  the 
lights  that  two  of  the  family  were  stUl  afoot  ?" 

"  He  must  have  been  a  cool  hand." 

"  Well,  of  course,  if  the  case  were  not  an  odd  one  we  should 
not  have  been  driven  to  ask  you  for  an  explanation,"  said 
young  Mr.  Alec.  "  But  as  to  your  ideas  that  the  man  had 
robbed  the  house  before  William  tackled  him,  I  think  it  a 
most  absurd  notion.  Wouldn't  we  have  found  the  piace  dis- 
arranged, and  missed  the  things  which  he  had  taken  ?" 

"  It  depends  on  what  the  things  were,"  said  Holmes.  "  You 
must  remember  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  burglar  who  is  a 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  125 

very  peculiar  fellow,  and  who  appears  to  work  on  lines  of  his 
own.  Look,  for  example,  at  the  queer  lot  of  things  which  he 
took  from  Acton's — what  was  it  ? — a  ball  of  string,  a  letter- 
weight,  and  I  don't  know  what  other  odds  and  ends." 

"  Well,  we  are  quite  in  your  hands,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  old 
Cunningham.  "Anything  which  you  or  the  Inspector  may 
suggest  will  most  certainly  be  done." 

"  In  the  first  place,"  said  Holmes,  "  I  should  like  you  to 
offer  a  reward — coming  from  yourself,  for  the  officials  may  take 
a  little  time  before  they  would  agree  upon  the  sum,  and  these 
things  cannot  be  done  too  promptly.  I  have  jotted  down  the 
form  here,  if  you  would  not  mind  signing  it.  Fifty  pound  was 
quite  enough,  I  thought." 

"  I  would  willingly  give  five  hundred,"  said  the  J.  P.,  taking 
the  slip  of  paper  and  the  pencil  which  Holmes  handed  to  him. 
"  This  is  not  quite  correct,  however,"  he  added,  glancing  over 
the  document. 

"  I  wrote  it  rather  hurriedly." 

"  You  see  you  begin,  '  Whereas,  at  about  a  quarter  to  one 
on  Tuesday  morning  an  attempt  was  made,'  and  so  on.  It 
was  at  a  quarter  to  twelve,  as  a  matter  of  fact.' 

I  was  pained  at  the  mistake,  for  I  knew  how  keenly  Holmes 
would  feel  any  slip  of  the  kind.  It  was  his  specialty  to  be 
accurate  as  to  fact,  but  his  recent  illness  had  shaken  him,  and 
this  one  little  incident  was  enough  to  show  me  that  he  was 
still  far  from  being  himself.  He  was  obviously  embarrassed 
for  an  instant,  while  the  Inspector  raised  his  eyebrows,  an<* 
Alec  Cunningham  burst  into  a  laugh.  The  old  gentleman 
corrected  the  mistake,  however,  and  handed  the  paper  back 
to  Holmes. 

"  Get  it  printed  as  soon  as  possible,"  he  said;  "  I  think  your 
idea  is  an  excellent  one." 

Holmes  put  the  slip  of  paper  carefully  away  into  his  pocket- 
book. 

"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  it  really  would  be  a  good  thing  that 
we  should  all  go  over  the  house  together  and  make  certain 


that  this  rather  erratic  burglar  did  not,  after  all,  carry  any- 
ihing  away  with  him." 

Before  entering,  Holmes  made  an  examination  of  the  door 
which  had  been  forced.  It  was  evident  that  a  chisel  or  strong 
knife  had  been  thrust  in,  and  the  lock  forced  back  with  it, 
We  could  see  the  marks  in  the  wood  where  it  had  beetr 
pushed  in. 

"  You  don't  use  bars,  then  ?"  he  asked. 

"  We  have  never  found  it  necessary." 

"  You  don't  keep  a  dog  ?" 

"  Yes,  but  he  is  chained  on  the  other  side  of  the  house." 

"  When  do  the  servants  go  to  bed  ?" 

"  About  ten." 

"I  understand  that  William  was  usually  in  bed  also  at 
that  hour  ?" 

"  Yes." 

"  It  is  singular  that  on  this  particular  night  he  should  have 
been  up.  Now,  I  should  be  very  glad  if  you  would  have  the 
kindness  to  show  us  over  the  house,  Mr.  Cunningham." 

A  stone-flagged  passage,  with  the  kitchens  branching  away 
from  it,  led  by  a  wooden  staircase  directly  to  the  first  floor  of 
the  house.  It  came  out  upon  the  landing  opposite  to  a  sec- 
ond more  ornamental  stair  which  came  up  from  the  front  hall. 
Out  of  this  landing  opened  the  drawing-room  and  several 
bedrooms,  including  those  of  Mr.  Cunningham  and  his  son. 
Holmes  walked  slowly,  taking  keen  note  of  the  architecture  of 
the  house.  I  could  tell  from  his  expression  that  he  was  on  a 
hot  scent,  and  yet  I  could  not  in  the  least  imagine  in  what 
direction  his  inferences  were  leading  him. 

"  My  good  sir,"  said  Mr.  Cunningham,  with  some  impa- 
tience, "  this  is  surely  very  unnecessary.  That  is  my  room 
at  the  end  of  the  stairs,  and  my  son's  is  the  one  beyond  it 
I  leave  it  to  your  judgment  whether  it  was  possible  for  the 
thief  to  have  come  up  here  without  disturbing  us." 

"  You  must  try  round  and  get  on  a  fresh  s^nt,  I  fancy, * 
said  the  son  with  a  rather  malicious  smile. 


THE   REIGATE  PUZZLE  1*7 

"  Still,  I  must  ask  you  to  humor  me  a  little  further.  I 
should  like,  for  example,  to  see  how  far  the  windows  of  the 
bedrooms  command  the  front.  This,  I  understand,  is  your 
son's  room  " — he  pushed  open  the  door — "  and  that,  I  pre- 
sume, is  the  dressing-room  in  which  he  sat  smoking  when  the 
alarm  was  given.  Where  does  the  window  of  that  look  out 
to  ?"  He  stepped  across  the  bedroom,  pushed  open  the  door, 
and  glanced  round  the  other  chamber. 

"  I  hope  that  you  are  satisfied  now  ?"  said  Mr.  Cunningham, 
tartly. 

"  Thank  you,  I  think  I  have  seen  all  that  I  wished." 

"  Then  if  it  is  really  necessary  we  can  go  into  my  room." 

"  If  it  is  not  too  much  trouble." 

The  J.  P.  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  led  the  way  into  his 
own  chamber,  which  was  a  plainly  furnished  and  common- 
place room.  As  we  moved  across  it  in  the  direction  of  the 
window,  Holmes  fell  back  until  he  and  I  were  the  last  of  the 
group.  Near  the  foot  of  the  bed  stood  a  dish  of  oranges  and 
a  carafe  of  water.  As  we  passed  it  Holmes,  to  my  unutter- 
able astonishment,  leaned  over  in  front  of  me  and  deliberately 
knocked  the  whole  thing  over.  The  glass  smashed  into  a 
thousand  pieces  and  the  fruit  rolled  about  into  every  corner 
oJf  the  room. 

"  You've  done  it  now,  Watson,"  said  he,  coolly.  "  A  pretty 
mess  you've  made  of  the  carpet." 

I  stooped  in  some  confusion  and  began  to  pick  up  the  fruit, 
understanding  for  some  reason  my  companion  desired  me  to 
take  the  blame  upon  myself.  The  others  did  the  same,  and 
set  the  table  on  its  legs  again. 

"  Hullo  !"  cried  the  Inspector,  "  where's  he  got  to  ?" 

Holmes  had  disappeared. 

"Wait  here  an  instant,"  said  young  Alec  Cunningham. 
"  The  fellow  is  off  his  head,  in  my  opinion.  Come  with  me, 
father,  and  see  where  he  has  got  to  !" 

They  rushed  out  of  the  room,  leaving  the  Inspector,  the 
Colonel,  and  me  staring  at  each  other. 


1*8  MEMOIRS  Of   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  Ton  my  word,  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  Master  Alec,* 
said  the  official.  "  It  may  be  the  effect  of  this  illness,  but  it 
seems  to  me  that — " 

His  words  were  cut  short  by  a  sudden  scream  of  "  Help ! 
Help !  Murder !"  With  a  thrill  I  recognized  the  voice  as  that 
of  my  friend.  I  rushed  madly  from  the  room  on  to  the  land- 
ing. The  cries,  which  had  sunk  down  into  a  hoarse,  inarticu- 
late shouting,  came  from  the  room  which  we  had  first  visited. 
I  dashed  in,  and  on  into  the  dressing-room  beyond.  The  two 
Cunninghams  were  bending  over  the  prostrate  figure  of  Sher- 
lock Holmes,  the  younger  clutching  his  throat  with  both 
bands,  while  the  elder  seemed  to  be  twisting  one  of  his  wrists. 
In  an  instant  the  three  of  us  had  torn  them  away  from  him, 
and  Holmes  staggered  to  his  feet,  very  pale  and  evidently 
greatly  exhausted. 

"  Arrest  these  men,  Inspector,"  he  gasped. 

"  On  what  charge  ?" 

"  That  of  murdering  their  coachman,  William  Kirwan." 

The  Inspector  stared  about  him  in  bewilderment.  "  Oh, 
come  now,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he  at  last,  "  I'm  sure  you  don't 
really  mean  to — " 

"  Tut,  man,  look  at  their  faces  !"  cried  Holmes,  curtly. 

Never  certainly  have  I  se°n  a  plainer  confession  of  guilt 
upon  human  countenances.  The  older  man  seemed  numbed 
and  dazed,  with  a  heavy,  sullen  expression  upon  his  strongly- 
marked  face.  The  son,  on  the  other  hand,  had  dropped  all 
'•hat  jaunty,  dashing  style  which  had  characterized  him,  and 
the  ferocity  of  a  dangerous  wild  beast  gleamed  in  his  dark 
eyes  and  distorted  his  handsome  features.  The  Inspector 
said  nothing,  but,  stepping  to  the  door,  he  blew  his  whistle. 
Two  of  his  constables  came  at  the  call. 

"  I  have  no  alternative,  Mr.  Cunningham,"  said  he.  "  I 
trust  that  this  may  all  prove  to  be  an  absurd  mistake,  but  you 
can  see  that —  Ah,  would  you  ?  Drop  it !"  He  struck  out 
with  his  hand,  and  a  revolver  which  the  younger  man  was  in 
the  act  of  cocking  clattered  down  upon  the  floor. 


THE   REIGATE  PUZZLE  129 

"  Keep  that,"  said  Holmes,  quietly  putting  his  foot  upon 
it ;  "  you  will  find  it  useful  at  the  trial.  But  this  is  what  we 
really  wanted."  He  held  up  a  little  crumpled  piece  of  paper. 

"  The  remainder  of  the  sheet !"  cried  the  Inspector. 

"  Precisely." 

"  And  where  was  it  ?" 

"  Where  I  was  sure  it  must  be.  I'll  make  the  whole  matter 
clear  to  you  presently.  I  think,  Colonel,  that  you  and  Wat- 
son might  return  now,  and  I  will  be  with  you  again  in  an  hour 
at  the  furthest.  The  Inspector  and  I  must  have  a  word  with 
the  prisoners,  but  you  will  certainly  see  me  back  at  luncheon 
time." 

Sherlock  Holmes  was  as  good  as  his  word,  for  about  one 
o'clock  he  rejoined  us  in  the  Colonel's  smoking-room.  He 
was  accompanied  by  a  little  elderly  gentleman,  who  was  in- 
troduced to  me  as  the  Mr.  Acton  whose  house  had  been  the 
scene  of  the  original  burglary. 

"  I  wished  Mr.  Acton  to  be  present  while  I  demonstrated 
this  small  matter  to  you,"  said  Holmes,  "for  it  is  natural  that 
he  should  take  a  keen  interest  in  the  details.  I  am  afraid, 
my  dear  Colonel,  that  you  must  regret  the  hour  that  you  took 
in  such  a  stormy  petrel  as  I  am." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  answered  the  Colonel,  warmly,  "  I  con- 
sider it  the  greatest  privilege  to  have  been  permitted  to  study 
your  methods  of  working.  I  confess  that  they  quite  surpass 
my  expectations,  and  that  I  am  utterly  unable  to  account  for 
your  result.  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  vestige  of  a  clue." 

"I  am  afraid  that  my  explanation  may  disillusion  you,  but 
it  has  always  been  my  habit  to  hide  none  of  my  methods,  either 
from  my  friend  Watson  or  from  any  one  who  might  take  an 
intelligent  interest  in  them.  But,  first,  as  I  am  rather  shaken 
by  the  knocking  about  which  I  had  in  the  dressing-room,  I 
think  that  I  shall  help  myself  to  a  dash  of  your  brandy,  Co4o- 
nel.  My  strength  has  been  rather  tried  of  late." 

"  I  trust  you  had  no  more  of  those  nervous  attacks." 


t^O  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

Sherlock  Holmes  laughed  heartily.  "  We  will  come  to  that 
in  its  turn,"  said  he.  "  I  will  lay  an  account  of  the  case  be- 
fore you  in  its  due  order,  showing  you  the  various  points 
which  guided  me  in  my  decision.  Pray  interrupt  me  if  there 
is  any  inference  which  is  not  perfectly  clear  to  you. 

"  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  in  the  art  of  detection  to 
be  able  to  recognize,  out  of  a  number  of  facts,  which  are  inci- 
dental and  which  vital.  Otherwise  your  energy  and  attention 
must  be  dissipated  instead  of  being  concentrated.  Now,  in 
this  case  there  was  not  the  slightest  doubt  in  my  mind  from 
the  first  that  the  key  of  the  whole  matter  must  be  looked  for 
in  the  scrap  of  paper  in  the  dead  man's  hand. 

"  Before  going  into  this,  I  would  draw  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  if  Alec  Cunningham's  narrative  was  correct,  and  if 
the  assailant,  after  shooting  William  Kirwan,  had  instantly 
fled,  then  it  obviously  could  not  be  he  who  tore  the  paper 
from  the  dead  man's  hand.  But  if  it  was  not  he,  it  must 
have  been  Alec  Cunningham  himself,  for  by  the  time  that 
the  old  man  had  descended  several  servants  were  upon  the 
scene.  The  point  is  a  simple  one,  but  the  Inspector  had 
overlooked  it  because  he  had  started  with  the  supposition 
that  these  county  magnates  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
matter.  Now,  I  make  a  point  of  never  having  any  prejudices, 
and  of  following  docilely  wherever  fact  may  lead  me,  and  so, 
in  the  very  first  stage  of  the  investigation,  I  found  myself 
looking  a  little  askance  at  the  part  which  had  been  played  by 
Mr.  Alec  Cunningham. 

"  And  now  I  made  a  very  careful  examination  of  the  corner 
of  paper  which  the  Inspector  had  submitted  to  us.  It  was  at 
once  clear  to  me  that  it  formed  part  of  a  very  remarkable  doc- 
ument. Here  it  is.  Do  you  not  now  observe  something  very 
suggestive  about  it  ?" 

"  It  has  a  very  irregular  look,"  said  the  Colonel. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  cried  Holmes,  "  there  cannot  be  the  least 
doubt  in  the  world  that  it  has  been  written  by  two  persons 
doing  alternate  words.  When  I  draw  your  attention  to  the 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  2$l 

strong  fs  of  '  at '  and  '  to,'  and  ask  you  to  compare  them  with 
the  weak  ones  of  '  quarter '  and  '  twelve,'  you  will  instantly 
recognize  the  fact.  A  very  brief  analysis  of  these  four  words 
would  enable  you  to  say  with  the  utmost  confidence  that  the 
'  learn '  and  the  '  maybe '  are  written  in  the  stronger  hand,  and 
the  '  what '  in  the  weaker." 

"  By  Jove,  it's  as  clear  as  day !"  cried  the  Colonel.  "  Why 
on  earth  should  two  men  write  a  letter  in  such  a  fashion  ?"  . 

"Obviously  the  business  was  a  bad  one,  and  one  of  the 
men  who  distrusted  the  other  was  determined  that,  whatever 
was  done,  each  should  have  an  equal  hand  in  it.  Now,  of 
the  two  men,  it  is  clear  that  the  one  who  wrote  the  '  at '  and 
4  to '  was  the  ringleader." 

"  How  do  you  get  at  that  ?" 

"We  might  deduce  it  from  the  mere  character  of  the  one 
hand  as  compared  with  the  other.  But  we  have  more  assured 
reasons  than  that  for  supposing  it.  If  you  examine  this  scrap 
with  attention  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  man 
with  the  stronger  hand  wrote  all  his  words  first,  leaving  blanks 
for  the  other  to  fill  up.  These  blanks  were  not  always  suffi- 
cient, and  you  can  see  that  the  second  man  had  a  squeeze  to 
fit  his  '  quarter '  in  between  the  '  at '  and  the  '  to,'  showing  that 
the  latter  were  already  written.  The  man  who  wrote  all  his 
words  first  is  undoubtedly  the  man  who  planned  the  affair." 

"  Excellent !"  cried  Mr.  Acton. 

"  But  very  superficial,"  said  Holmes,  "  We  come  now,  how- 
ever, to  a  point  which  is  of  importance.  You  may  not  be  aware 
that  the  deduction  of  a  man's  age  from  his  writing  is  one  which 
has  been  brought  to  considerable  accuracy  by  experts.  In 
normal  cases  one  can  place  a  man  in  his  true  decade  with 
tolerable  confidence.  I  say  normal  cases,  because  ill-health 
and  physical  weakness  reproduce  the  signs  of  old  age,  even 
when  the  invalid  is  a  youth.  In  this  case,  looking  at  the  bold, 
strong  hand  of  the  one,  and  the  rather  broken-backed  appear- 
ance of  the  other,  which  still  retains  its  legibility  although 
the  fs  have  begun  to  lose  their  crossing,  we  can  say  that  the 


132  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

one  was  a  young  man  and  the  other  was  advanced  in  years 
without  being  positively  decrepit." 

"  Excellent !"  cried  Mr.  Acton  again. 

"  There  is  a  further  point,  however,  which  is  subtler  and  of 
greater  interest.  There  is  something  in  common  between 
these  hands.  They  belong  to  men  who  are  blood-relatives. 
It  may  be  most  obvious  to  you  in  the  Greek  Ss,  but  to  me 
there  are  many  small  points  which  indicate  the  same  thing. 
I  have  no  doubt  at  all  that  a  family  mannerism  can  be  traced 
in  these  two  specimens  of  writing.  I  am  only,  of  course,  giv- 
ing you  the  leading  results  now  of  my  examination  of  the  pa- 
per. There  were  twenty-three  other  deductions  which  would 
be  of  more  interest  to  experts  than  to  you.  They  all  tend  to 
deepen  the  impression  upon  my  mind  that  the  Cunninghams, 
father  and  son,  had  written  this  letter. 

"  Having  got  so  far,  my  next  step  was,  of  course,  to  examine 
into  the  details  of  the  crime,  and  to  see  how  far  they  would 
help  us.  I  went  up  to  the  house  with  the  Inspector,  and  saw  all 
that  was  to  be  seen.  The  wound  upon  the  dead  man  was,  as 
I  was  able  to  determine  with  absolute  confidence,  fired  from 
a  revolver  at  the  distance  of  something  over  four  yards.  There 
was  no  powder-blackening  on  the  clothes.  Evidently,  there- 
fore, Alec  Cunningham  had  lied  when  he  said  that  the  two 
men  were  struggling  when  the  shot  was  fired.  Again,  both 
father  and  son  agreed  as  to  the  place  where  the  man  escaped 
into  the  road.  At  that  point,  however,  as  it  happens,  there  is 
a  broadish  ditch,  moist  at  the  bottom.  As  there  were  no  indi- 
cations of  boot-marks  about  this  ditch,  I  was  absolutely  sure 
not  only  that  the  Cunninghams  had  again  lied,  but  that  there 
had  never  been  any  unknown  man  upon  the  scene  at  all. 

"  And  now  I  have  to  consider  the  motive  of  this  singular 
crime.  To  get  at  this,  I  endeavored  first  of  all  to  solve  the 
reason  of  the  original  burglary  at  Mr.  Acton's.  I  understood, 
from  something  which  the  Colonel  told  us,  that  a  lawsuit  had 
been  going  on  between  you,  Mr.  Acton,  and  the  Cunninghams. 
Of  course,  it  instantly  occurred  to  me  that  they  had  broken 


THE   REIGATE   PUZZLE  133 

iato  your  library  with  the  intention  of  getting  at  some  docu- 
ment which  might  be  of  importance  in  the  case." 

"  Precisely  so,"  said  Mr.  Acton.  "  There  can  be  no  possi- 
ble doubt  as  to  their  intentions.  I  have  the  clearest  claim 
upon  half  of  their  present  estate,  and  if  they  could  have  found 
a  single  paper — which,  fortunately,  was  in  the  strong-box  of 
*ny  solicitors  —  they  would  undoubtedly  have  crippled  our 
case." 

"  There  you  are,"  said  Holmes,  smiling.  "  It  was  a  dan- 
gerous, reckless  attempt,  in  which  I  seem  to  trace  the  influ- 
ence of  young  Alec.  Having  found  nothing,  they  tried  to  di- 
vert suspicion  by  making  it  appear  to  be  an  ordinary  burglary, 
to  which  end  they  carried  off  whatever  they  could  lay  their 
hands  upon.  That  is  all  clear  enough,  but  there  was  much 
that  was  still  obscure.  What  I  wanted  above  all  was  to  get 
the  missing  part  of  that  note.  I  was  certain  that  Alec  had 
torn  it  out  of  the  dead  man's  hand,  and  almost  certain  that 
he  must  have  thrust  it  into  the  pocket  of  his  dressing-gown. 
Where  else  could  he  have  put  it?  The  only  question  was 
whether  it  was  still  there.  It  was  worth  an  effort  to  find  out, 
and  for  that  object  we  all  went  up  to  the  house. 

"  The  Cunninghams  joined  us,  as  you  doubtless  remember, 
outside  the  kitchen  door.  It  was,  of  course,  of  the  very  first 
importance  that  they  should  not  be  reminded  of  the  existence 
of  this  paper,  otherwise  they  would  naturally  destroy  it  with- 
out delay.  The  Inspector  was  about  to  tell  them  the  impor- 
tance which  we  attached  to  it  when,  by  the  luckiest  chance  in 
the  world,  I  tumbled  down  in  a  sort  of  fit  and  so  changed  the 
conversation." 

"  Good  heavens !"  cried  the  Colonel,  laughing,  "  do  you 
mean  to  say  all  our  sympathy  was  wasted  and  your  fit  an  im- 
posture ?" 

"  Speaking  professionally,  it  was  admirably  done,"  cried  I, 
looking  in  amazement  at  this  man  who  was  forever  confound- 
ing me  with  some  new  phase  of  his  astuteness. 

"  It  is  an  art  which  is  often  useful,"  said  he,     "  When  I 


134  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

recovered  I  managed,  by  a  device  which  had  perhaps  some 
little  merit  of  ingenuity,  to  get  old  Cunningham  to  write  the 
word  'twelve,'  so  that  I  might  compare  it  with  the  'twelve' 
upon  the  paper." 

"Oh,  what  an  ass  I  have  been  !"  I  exclaimed, 
"  I  could  see  that  you  were  commiserating  me  over  my 
weakness,"  said  Holmes,  laughing.  "  I  was  sorry  to  cause 
you  the  sympathetic  pain  which  I  know  that  you  felt.  We 
then  went  upstairs  together,  and  having  entered  the  room 
and  seen  the  dressing-gown  hanging  up  behind  the  door,  I 
contrived,  by  upsetting  a  table,  to  engage  then-  attention  for 
the  moment,  and  slipped  back  to  examine  the  pockets.  I 
had  hardly  got  the  paper,  however — which  was,  as  I  had  ex- 
pected, in  one  of  them — when  the  two  Cunninghams  were 
on  me,  and  would,  I  verily  believe,  have  murdered  me  then 
and  there  but  for  your  prompt  and  friendly  aid.  As  it  is,  I 
feel  that  young  man's  grip  on  my  throat  now,  and  the  father 
has  twisted  my  wrist  round  in  the  effort  to  get  the  paper  out 
of  my  hand.  They  saw  that  I  must  know  all  about  it,  you 
see,  and  the  sudden  change  from  absolute  security  to  com- 
plete despair  made  them  perfectly  desperate^ 

"  I  had  a  little  talk  with  old  Cunningham  afterwards  as  to 
the  motive  of  the  crime.  He  was  tractable  enough,  though 
his  son  was  a  perfect  demon,  ready  to  blow  out  his  own  or 
anybody  else's  brains  if  he  could  have  got  to  his  revolver. 
When  Cunningham  saw  that  the  case  against  him  was  so 
strong  he  lost  all  heart  and  made  a  clean  breast  of  every- 
thing. It  seems  that  William  had  secretly  followed  his  two 
masters  on  the  night  when  they  made  their  raid  upon  Mr. 
Acton's,  and  having  thus  got  them  into  his  power,  proceed- 
ed, under  threats  of  exposure,  to  levy  black-mail  upon  them. 
Mr.  Alec,  however,  was  a  dangerous  man  to  play  games  of 
that  sort  with.  It  was  a  stroke  of  positive  genius  on  his  part 
to  see  in  the  burglary  scare  which  was  convulsing  the  coun- 
try side  an  opportunity  of  plausibly  getting  rid  of  the  man 
whom  he  feared.  William  was  decoyed  up  and  shot,  and  had 


THE    REIGATE   PUZZLE 


'35 


they  only  got  the  whole  of  the  note  and  paid  a  little  more 
attention  to  detail  in  their  accessories,  it  is  very  possible  that 
suspicion  might  never  have  been  aroused." 

"  And  the  note  ?"  I  asked. 

Sherlock  Holmes  placed  the  subjoined  paper  before  us. 


136  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK.   HOLMES 

"It  is  very  much  the  sort  of  thing  that  I  expected,"  said 
he.  "  Of  course,  we  do  not  yet  knew  what  the  relations  may 
have  been  between  Alec  Cunningham,  William  Kirwan,  and 
Annie  Morrison.  The  result  shows  that  the  trap  was  skil- 
fully baited.  I  am  sure  that  you  cannot  fail  to  be  delighted 
with  the  traces  of  heredity  shown  in  the/V  and  in  the  tails 
of  the  g*s.  The  absence  of  the  /-dots  in  the  old  man's  writ- 
ing is  also  most  characteristic.  Watson,  I  think  our  quiet 
rest  in  the  country  has  been  a  distinct  success,  and  I  shall 
certainly  return  much  invigorated  to  Baker  Street  co-morrow." 


BOventure  Iff 

THE   CROOKED    MAN 

summer  night,  a  few  months  after  my  mar- 
riage, I  was  seated  by  my  own  hearth  smoking 
a  last  pipe  and  nodding  over  a  novel,  for  my 
day's  work  had  been  an  exhausting  one.  My 
wife  had  already  gone  upstairs,  and  the  sound 
of  the  locking  of  the  hall  door  some  time  before  told  me  that 
the  servants  had  also  retired.  I  had  risen  from  my  seat  and 
was  knocking  out  the  ashes  of  my  pipe  when  I  suddenly  heard 
the  clang  of  the  bell. 

I  looked  at  the  clock.  It  was  a  quarter  to  twelve.  This 
could  not  be  a  visitor  at  so  late  an  hour.  A  patient,  evidently, 
and  possibly  an  all-night  sitting.  With  a  wry  face  I  went  out 
into  the  hall  and  opened  the  door.  To  my  astonishment  it 
was  Sherlock  Holmes  who  stood  upon  my  step. 

"  Ah,  Watson,"  said  he,  "  I  hoped  that  I  might  not  be  too 
late  to  catch  you." 

"  My  dear  fellow,  pray  come  in." 

"  You  look  surprised,  and  no  wonder !  Relieved,  too,  I 
fancy !  Hum  !  You  still  smoke  the  Arcadia  mixture  of  your 
bachelor  days  then  !  There's  no  mistaking  that  fluffy  ash 
upon  your  coat.  It's  easy  to  tell  that  you  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  wear  a  uniform,  Watson.  You'll  never  pass  as  a 
pure-bred  civilian  as  long  as  you  keep  that  habit  of  carrying 
your  handkerchief  in  your  sleeve.  Could  you  put  me  up  to- 
night ?" 

"  With  pleasure." 

"  You  told  me  that  you  had  bachelor  quarters  for  one,  and 

x. 


138  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

I  see  that  you  have  no  gentleman  visitor  at  present.  Youi 
hat-stand  proclaims  as  much." 

"  I  shall  be  delighted  if  you  will  stay." 

"Thank  you.  I'll  fill  the  vacant  peg  then.  Sorry  to  see 
that  youVe  had  the  British  workman  in  the  house.  He's  a 
token  of  evil.  Not  the  drains,  I  hope  ?" 

"  No,  the  gas." 

"  Ah !  He  has  left  two  nail-marks  from  his  boot  upon  your 
linoleum  just  where  the  light  strikes  it.  No,  thank  you,  I  had 
some  supper  at  Waterloo,  but  I'll  smoke  a  pipe  with  you  with 
pleasure." 

I  handed  him  my  pouch,  and  he  seated  himself  opposite  to 
me  and  smoked  for  some  time  in  silence.  I  was  well  aware 
that  nothing  but  business  of  importance  would  have  brought 
him  to  me  at  such  an  hour,  so  I  waited  patiently  until  he 
should  come  round  to  it. 

"  I  see  that  you  are  professionally  rather  busy  just  now," 
said  he,  glancing  very  keenly  across  at  me. 

"  Yes,  I've  had  a  busy  day,"  I  answered.  "  It  may  seem 
very  foolish  in  your  eyes,"  I  added,  "  but  really  I  don't  know 
how  you  deduced  it." 

Holmes  chuckled  to  himself. 

"  I  have  the  advantage  of  knowing  your  habits,  my  dear 
Watson,"  said  he.  "  When  your  round  is  a  short  one  you 
walk,  and  when  it  is  a  long  one  you  use  a  hansom.  As  I 
perceive  that  your  boots,  although  used,  are  by  no  means 
dirty,  I  cannot  doubt  that  you  are  at  present  busy  enough  to 
justify  the  hansom." 

"  Excellent !"  I  cried. 

M  Elementary,"  said  he.  "  It  is  one  of  those  instances  where 
the  reasoner  can  produce  an  effect  which  seems  remarkable 
to  his  neighbor,  because  the  latter  has  missed  the  one  little 
point  which  is  the  basis  of  the  deduction.  The  same  may  be 
said,  my  dear  fellow,  for  the  effect  of  some  of  these  little 
sketches  of  yours,  which  is  entirely  meretricious,  depending  as 
it  does  upon  your  retaining  in  your  own  hands  some  factors  in 


THE   CROOKED    MAN  139 

the  problem  which  are  never  imparted  to  the  reader.  Now,  at 
present  I  am  in  the  position  of  these  same  readers,  for  I  hold 
in  this  hand  several  threads  of  one  of  the  strangest  cases 
which  ever  perplexed  a  man's  brain,  and  yet  I  lack  the  one 
or  two  which  are  needful  to  complete  my  theory.  But  I'll 
have  them,  Watson,  I'll  have  them !"  Kis  eyes  kindled  and 
a  slight  flush  sprang  into  his  thin  cheeks.  For  an  instant  the 
veil  h^d  lifted  upon  his  keen,  intense  nature,  but  for  an  in- 
stant only.  When  I  glanced  again  his  face  had  resumed  that 
red-Indian  composure  which  had  made  so  many  regard  him 
as  a  machine  rather  than  a  man. 

"The  problem  presents  features  of  interest,"  said  he.  "I 
may  even  say  exceptional  features  of  interest.  I  have  already 
looked  into  the  matter,  and  have  come,  as  I  think,  within 
sight  of  my  solution.  If  you  could  accompany  me  in  that  last 
step  you  might  be  of  considerable  service  to  me." 

"  I  should  be  delighted." 

"  Could  you  go  as  far  as  Aldershot  to-morrow  ?" 

"  I  have  no  doubt  Jackson  would  take  my  practice." 

"Very  good.     I  want  to  start  by  the  11.10  from  Waterloo." 

"  That  would  give  me  time." 

"  Then,  if  you  are  not  too  sleepy,  I  will  give  you  a  sketch, 
of  what  has  happened,  and  of  what  remains  to  be  done." 

"  I  was  sleepy  before  you  came.     1  am  quite  wakeful  now." 

"  I  will  compress  the  story  as  far  as  may  be  done  without 
omitting  anything  vital  to  the  case.  It  is  conceivable  that 
you  may  even  have  read  some  account  of  the  matter.  It  is. 
the  supposed  murder  of  Colonel  Barclay,  of  the  Royal  Mun- 
sters,  at  Aldershot,  which  I  am  investigating." 

"  I  have  heard  nothing  of  it." 

"  It  has  not  excited  much  attention  yet,  except  locally. 
The  facts  are  only  two  days  old.  Briefly  they  are  these : 

"  The  Royal  Munsters  is,  as  you  know,  one  of  the  most 

famous  Irish  regiments  in  the  British  army.     It  did  wonders 

both  in  the  Crimea  and  the  Mutiny,  and  has  since  that  time 

distinguished  itself  upon  every  possible  occasion.      It  was 

\ 


140  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

commanded  up  to  Monday  night  by  James  Barclay,  a  gallant 
veteran,  who  started  as  a  full  private,  was  raised  to  commis- 
sioned rank  for  his  bravery  at  the  time  of  the  Mutiny,  and  so 
fived  to  command  the  regiment  in  which  he  had  once  carried 
a  musket. 

"  Colonel  Barclay  had  married  at  the  time  when  he  was  a 
sergeant,  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Miss  Nancy 
Devoy,  was  the  daughter  of  a  former  color -sergeant  in  the 
same  corps.  There  was,  therefore,  as  can  be  imagined,  some, 
little  social  friction  when  the  young  couple  (for  they  were  stili 
young)  found  themselves  in  their  new  surroundings.  They 
appear,  however,  to  have  quickly  adapted  themselves,  and 
Mrs.  Barclay  has  always,  I  understand,  been  as  popular  with 
the  ladies  of  the  regiment  as  her  husband  was  with  his  broth- 
er officers.  I  may  add  that  she  was  a  woman  of  great  beauty, 
and  that  even  now,  when  she  has  been  married  for  upwards  of 
thirty  years,  she  is  still  of  a  striking  and  queenly  appearance. 

"  Colonel  Barclay's  family  life  appears  to  have  been  a  uni- 
formly happy  one.  Major  Murphy,  to  whom  I  owe  most  of 
my  facts,  assures  me  that  he  has  never  heard  of  any  misun- 
derstanding between  the  pair.  On  the  whole,  he  thinks  that 
Barclay's  devotion  to  his  wife  was  greater  than  his  wife's  to 
Barclay.  He  was  acutely  uneasy  if  he  were  absent  from  her 
for  a  day.  She,  on  the  other  hand,  though  devoted  and  faith- 
ful, was  less  obtrusively  affectionate.  But  they  were  regarded 
in  the  regiment  as  the  very  model  of  a  middle-aged  couple. 
There  was  absolutely  nothing  in  their  mutual  relations  to  pre- 
pare people  for  the  tragedy  which  was  to  follow. 

"  Colonel  Barclay  himself  seems  to  have  had  some  singular 
traits  in  his  character.  He  was  a  dashing,  jovial  old  soldier 
in  his  usual  mood,  but  there  were  occasions  on  which  he 
seemed  to  show  himself  capable  of  considerable  violence  and 
vindictiveness.  This  side  of  his  nature,  however,  appears 
never  to  have  been  turned  towards  his  wife.  Another  fact, 
which  had  struck  Major  Murphy  and  three  out  of  five  of 
the  other  officers  with  whom  I  conversed,  was  the  singular 


THE    CROOKED    MAN  14! 

sort  of  depression  which  came  upon  him  at  times.  As  the 
major  expressed  it,  the  smile  had  often  been  struck  from  his 
mouth,  as  if  by  some  invisible  hand,  when  he  has  been  joining 
in  the  gayeties  and  chaff  of  the  mess-table.  For  days  on  end, 
when  the  mood  was  on  him,  he  has  been  sunk  in  the  deepest 
gloom.  This  and  a  certain  tinge  of  superstition  were  the 
only  unusual  traits  in  his  character  which  his  brother  officers 
had  observed.  The  latter  peculiarity  took  the  form  of  a  dis- 
like to  being  left  alone,  especially  after  dark.  This  puerile 
feature  in  a  nature  which  was  conspicuously  manly  had  often 
given  rise  to  comment  and  conjecture. 

"  The  first  battalion  of  the  Royal  Munsters  (which  is  the 
old  1 1  yth)  has  been  stationed  at  Aldershot  for  some  years. 
The  married  officers  live  out  of  barracks,  and  the  Colonel 
has  during  all  this  time  occupied  a  villa  called  Lachine,  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  north  camp.  The  house  stands  in  its 
own  grounds,  but  the  west  side  of  it  is  not  more  than  thirty 
yards  from  the  high-road.  A  coachman  and  two  maids  form 
the  staff  of  servants.  These  with  their  master  and  mistress 
were  the  sole  occupants  of  Lachine,  for  the  Barclays  had  no 
children,  nor  was  it  usual  for  them  to  have  resident  visitors. 

"  Now  for  the  events  at  Lachine  between  nine  and  ten  on 
the  evening  of  last  Monday. 

"  Mrs.  Barclay  was,  it  appears,  a  member  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  had  interested  herself  very  much  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Guild  of  St.  George,  which  was  formed 
in  connection  with  the  Watt  Street  Chapel  for  the  purpose 
of  supplying  the  poor  with  cast-off  clothing.  A  meeting  of 
the  Guild  had  been  held  that  evening  at  eight,  and  Mrs. 
Barclay  had  hurried  over  her  dinner  in  order  to  be  present 
at  it.  When  leaving  the  house  she  was  heard  by  the  coach- 
man to  make  some  commonplace  remark  to  her  husband, 
and  to  assure  him  that  she  would  be  back  before  very  long. 
She  then  called  for  Miss  Morrison,  a  young  lady  who  lives  in 
the  next  villa,  and  the  two  went  off  together  to  their  meeting. 
it  lasted  forty  minutes,  and  at  a  quarter-past  nine  Mrs.  Bar 


142  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

day  returned  home,  having  left  Miss  Morrison  at  her  door  as 
she  passed. 

"There  is  a  room  which  is  used  as  a  morning-room  at  La- 
chine.  This  faces  the  road  and  opens  by  a  large  glass  fold- 
ing-door on  to  the  lawn.  The  lawn  is  thirty  yards  across,  and 
is  only  divided  from  the  highway  by  a  low  wall  with  an  iron 
rail  above  it.  It  was  into  this  room  that  Mrs.  Barclay  went 
upon  her  return.  The  blinds  were  not  down,  for  the  room 
was  seldom  used  in  the  evening,  but  Mrs.  Barclay  herself  lit 
the  lamp  and  then  rang  the  bell,  asking  Jane  Stewart,  the 
housemaid,  to  bring  her  a  cup  of  tea,  which  was  quite  con- 
trary to  her  usual  habits.  The  Colonel  had  been  sitting  in 
the  dining-room,  but  hearing  that  his  wife  had  returned  he 
joined  her  in  the  morning-room.  The  coachman  saw  him 
cross  the  hall  and  enter  it.  He  was  never  seen  again  alive. 

"  The  tea  which  had  been  ordered  was  brought  up  at  the 
end  of  ten  minutes ;  but  the  maid,  as  she  approached  the 
door,  was  surprised  to  hear  the  voices  of  her  master  and  mis- 
tress in  furious  altercation.  She  knocked  without  receiving 
any  answer,  and  even  turned  the  handle,  but  only  to  find  that 
the  door  was  locked  upon  the  inside.  Naturally  enough  she 
ran  down  to  tell  the  cook,  and  the  two  women  with  the  coach- 
man came  up  into  the  hall  and  listened  to  the  dispute  which 
was  still  raging.  They  all  agreed  that  only  two  voices  ware 
to  be  heard,  those  of  Barclay  and  of  his  wife.  Barclay's 
remarks  were  subdued  and  abrupt,  so  that  none  of  them 
were  audible  to  the  listeners.  The  lady's,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  most  bitter,  and  when  she  raised  her  voice  could  be 
plainly  heard.  '  You  coward  !'  she  repeated  over  and  over 
again.  '  What  can  be  done  now  ?  What  can  be  done  now  ? 
Give  me  back  my  life.  I  will  never  so  much  as  breathe 
the  same  air  with  you  again !  You  coward  !  You  coward  !' 
Those  were  scraps  of  her  conversation,  ending  in  a  sudden 
dreadful  cry  in  the  man's  voice,  with  a  crash,  and  a  piercing 
scream  from  the  woman.  Convinced  that  some  tragedy  had 
occurred,  the  coachman  rushed  to  the  door  and  strove  to 


THE    CROOKED    MAN  143 

force  it,  while  scream  after  scream  issued  from  within.  He 
was  unable,  however,  to  make  his  way  in,  and  the  maids  were 
too  distracted  with  fear  to  be  of  any  assistance  to  him.  A 
sudden  thought  struck  him,  however,  and  he  ran  through  the 
hall  door  and  round  to  the  lawn  upon  which  the  long  French 
windows  open.  One  side  of  the  window  was  open,  which  I 
understand  was  quite  usual  in  the  summer-time,  and  he  passed 
without  difficulty  into  the  room.  His  mistress  had  ceased  to 
scream  and  was  stretched  insensible  upon  a  couch,  while  with 
his  feet  tilted  over  the  side  of  an  arm-chair,  and  his  head 
upon  the  ground  near  the  corner  of  the  fender,  was  lying  the 
unfortunate  soldier  stone  dead  in  a  pool  of  his  own  blood. 

"  Naturally,  the  coachman's  first  thought,  on  finding  that  he 
could  do  nothing  for  his  master,  was  to  open  the  door.  But 
here  an  unexpected  and  singular  difficulty  presented  itself. 
The  key  was  not  in  the  inner  side  of  the  door,  nor  could  he 
find  it  anywhere  in  the  room.  He  went  out  again,  therefore, 
through  the  window,  and  having  obtained  the  help  of  a  po- 
liceman and  of  a  medical  man,  he  returned.  The  lady,  against 
whom  naturally  the  strongest  suspicion  rested,  was  removed 
to  her  room,  still  in  a  state  of  insensibility.  The  Colonel's 
body  was  then  placed  upon  the  sofa,  and  a  careful  examina- 
tion made  of  the  scene  of  the  tragedy. 

"  The  injury  from  which  the  unfortunate  veteran  was  suffer- 
ing was  found  to  be  a  jagged  cut  some  two  inches  long  at  the 
back  part  of  his  head,  which  had  evidently  been  caused  by  a 
violent  blow  from  a  blunt  weapon.  Nor  was  it  difficult  to 
guess  what  that  weapon  may  have  been.  Upon  the  floor, 
close  to  the  body,  was  lying  a  singular  club  of  hard  carved 
wood  with  a  bone  handle.  The  Colonel  possessed  a  varied 
collection  of  weapons  brought  from  the  different  countries  in 
which  he  had  fought,  and  it  is  conjectured  by  the  police  that 
this  club  was  among  his  trophies.  The  servants  deny  having 
seen  it  before,  but  among  the  numerous  curiosities  in  the 
house  it  is  possible  that  it  may  have  been  overlooked.  Noth- 
ing else  of  importance  was  discovered  in  the  room  by  the 


144  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

police,  save  the  inexplicable  fact  that  neither  upon  Mrs.  Bar- 
clay's person  nor  upon  that  of  the  victim  nor  in  any  part  of 
the  room  was  the  missing  key  to  be  found.  The  door  had 
eventually  to  be  opened  by  a  locksmith  from  Aldershot. 

"  That  was  the  state  of  things,  Watson,  when  upon  the  Tues- 
day morning  I,  at  the  request  of  Major  Murphy,  went  down 
to  Aldershot  to  supplement  the  efforts  of  the  police.  I  think 
that  you  will  acknowledge  that  the  problem  was  already  one 
of  interest,  but  my  observations  soon  made  me  realize  that  it 
was  in  truth  much  more  extraordinary  than  would  at  first 
sight  appear. 

"Before  examining  the  room  I  cross-questioned  the  ser- 
vants, but  only  succeeded  in  eliciting  the  facts  which  T  have 
already  stated.  One  other  detail  of  interest  was  remembered 
by  Jane  Stewart,  the  housemaid.  You  will  remember  that  on 
hearing  the  sound  of  the  quarrel  she  descended  and  returned 
with  the  other  servants.  On  that  first  occasion,  when  she 
was  alone,  she  says  that  the  voices  of  her  master  and  mistress 
were  sunk  so  low  that  she  could  hear  hardly  anything,  and 
judged  by  their  tones  rather  than  their  words  that  they  had 
fallen  out.  On  my  pressing  her,  however,  she  remembered 
that  she  heard  the  word  David  uttered  twice  by  the  lady. 
The  point  is  of  the  utmost  importance  as  guiding  us  towards 
the  reason  of  the  sudden  quarrel.  The  Colonel's  name,  you 
remember,  was  James. 

"There  was  one  thing  in  the  case  which  had  made  the 
deepest  impression  both  upon  the  servants  and  the  police. 
This  was  the  contortion  of  the  Colonel's  face.  It  had  set,  ac- 
cording to  their  account,  into  the  most  dreadful  expression  of 
fear  and  horror  which  a  human  countenance  is  capable  of  as- 
suming. More  than  one  person  fainted  at  the  mere  sight  of 
him,  so  terrible  was  the  effect.  It  was  quite  certain  that  he 
had  foreseen  his  fate,  and  that  it  had  caused  him  the  utmost 
horror.  This,  of  course,  fitted  in  well  enough  with  the  police 
theory,  if  the  Colonel  could  have  seen  his  wife  making  a  mur- 
derous attack  upon  him.  Nor  was  the  fact  of  the  wound  be- 


THE   CROOKED   MAN  145 

ing  on  the  back  of  his  head  a  fatal  objection  to  this,  as  he 
might  have  turned  to  avoid  the  blow.  No  information  could 
be  got  from  the  lady  herself,  who  was  temporarily  insane 
from  an  acute  attack  of  brain-fever. 

"  From  the  police  I  learned  that  Miss  Morrison,  who  you 
remember  went  out  that  evening  with  Mrs.  Barclay,  denied 
having  any  knowledge  of  what  it  was  which  had  caused  the 
ill-humor  in  which  her  companion  had  returned. 

"  Having  gathered  these  facts,  Watson,  I  smoked  several 
pipes  over  them,  trying  to  separate  those  which  were  crucial 
from  others  which  were  merely  incidental.  There  could  be 
no  question  that  the  most  distinctive  and  suggestive  point  in 
the  case  was  the  singular  disappearance  of  the  door-key.  A 
most  careful  search  had  failed  to  discover  it  in  the  room. 
Therefore  it  must  have  been  taken  from  it.  But  neither  the 
Colonel  nor  the  Colonel's  wife  could  have  taken  it.  That 
was  perfectly  clear.  Therefore  a  third  person  must  have  en- 
tered the  room.  And  that  third  person  could  only  have  come 
in  through  the  window.  It  seemed  to  me  that  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  room  and  the  lawn  might  possibly  reveal  some 
traces  of  this  mysterious  individual.  You  know  my  meth- 
ods, Watson.  There  was  not  one  of  them  which  I  did  not  ap- 
ply to  the  inquiry.  And  it  ended  by  my  discovering  traces, 
but  very  different  ones  from  those  which  I  had  expected. 
There  had  been  a  man  in  the  room,  and  he  had  crossed  the 
lawn  coming  from  the  road.  I  was  able  to  obtain  five  very 
clear  impressions  of  his  foot-marks :  one  in  the  roadway  it- 
self, at  the  point  where  he  had  climbed  the  low  wall,  two  on 
the  lawn,  and  two  very  faint  ones  upon  the  stained  boards 
near  the  window  where  he  had  entered.  He  had  apparently 
rushed  across  the  lawn,  for  his  toe-marks  were  much  deeper 
than  his  heels.  But  it  was  not  the  man  who  surprised  me. 
It  was  his  companion." 

"  His  companion !" 

Holmes   pulled  a  large   sheet  of   tissue-paper   out  of   his 
pocket  and  carefully  unfolded  it  upon  his  knee. 


q6  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  What  do  you  make  of  that  ?"  he  asked. 

The  paper  was  covered  with  the  tracings  of  the  foot-marks 
of  some  small  animal.  It  had  five  well-marked  foot-pads,  an 
indication  of  long  nails,  and  the  whole  print  might  be  nearly 
as  large  as  a  dessert-spoon. 

"  It's  a  dog,"  said  I. 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  dog  running  up  a  curtain  ?  I 
found  distinct  traces  that  this  creature  had  done  so." 

"  A  monkey,  then  ?" 

"  But  it  is  not  the  print  of  a  monkey." 

"  What  can  it  be,  then  ?" 

"  Neither  dog  nor  cat  nor  monkey  nor  any  creature  that 
we  are  familiar  with.  I  have  tried  to  reconstruct  it  from  the 
measurements.  Here  are  four  prints  where  the  beast  has 
been  standing  motionless.  You  see  that  it  is  no  less  than 
fifteen  inches  from  fore-foot  to  hind.  Add  to  that  the  length 
of  neck  and  head,  and  you  get  a  creature  not  much  less  than 
two  feet  long — probably  more  if  there  is  any  tail.  But  now 
observe  this  other  measurement.  The  animal  has  been  mov- 
ing, and  we  have  the  length  of  its  stride.  In  each  case  it  is 
only  about  three  inches.  You  have  an  indication,  you  see, 
of  a  long  body  with  very  short  legs  attached  to  it.  It  has 
not  been  considerate  enough  to  leave  any  of  its  hair  behind 
it.  But  its  general  shape  must  be  what  I  have  indicated,  and 
it  can  run  up  a  curtain,  and  it  is  carnivorous." 

"  How  do  you  deduce  that  ?" 

"Because  it  ran  up  the  curtain.  A  canary's  cage  was 
hanging  in  the  window,  and  its  aim  seems  to  have  been  to 
get  at  the  bird." 

"  Then  what  was  the  beast  ?" 

"Ah,  if  I  could  give  it  a  name  it  might  go  a  long  way 
towards  solving  the  case.  On  the  whole,  it  was  probably 
some  creature  of  the  weasel  and  stoat  tribe — and  yet  it  is 
larger  than  any  of  these  that  I  have  seen." 

"  But  what  had  it  to  do  with  the  crime  ?" 

"  That,  also,  is  still  obscure.     But  we  have  learned  a  good 


THE    CROOKED   MAN  147 

deal,  you  perceive.  We  know  that  a  man  stood  in  the  road 
looking  at  the  quarrel  between  the  Barclays — the  blinds  were 
up  and  the  room  lighted.  We  know,  also,  that  he  ran  across 
the  lawn,  entered  the  room,  accompanied  by  a  strange  ani- 
mal, and  that  he  either  struck  the  Colonel  or,  as  is  equally 
possible,  that  the  Colonel  fell  down  from  sheer  fright  at  the 
sight  of  him,  and  cut  his  head  on  the  corner  of  the  fender. 
Finally,  we  have  the  curious  fact  that  the  intruder  carried 
away  the  key  with  him  when  he  left." 

"  Your  discoveries  seem  to  have  left  the  business  more  ob- 
scure than  it  was  before,"  said  I. 

"  Quite  so.  They  undoubtedly  showed  that  the  affair  was 
much  deeper  than  was  at  first  conjectured.  I  thought  the 
matter  over,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  must  ap- 
proach the  case  from  another  aspect.  But  really,  Watson,  I 
am  keeping  you  up,  and  I  might  just  as  well  tell  you  all  this 
on  our  way  to  Aldershot  to-morrow." 

"  Thank  you,  you  have  gone  rather  too  far  to  stop." 

"  It  is  quite  certain  that  when  Mrs.  Barclay  left  the  house 
at  half-past  seven  she  was  on  good  terms  with  her  husband. 
She  was  never,  as  I  think  I  have  said,  ostentatiously  affec- 
tionate, but  she  was  heard  by  the  coachman  chatting  with 
the  Colonel  in  a  friendly  fashion.  Now,  it  was  equally  cer- 
tain that,  immediately  on  her  return,  she  had  gone  to  the 
room  in  which  she  was  least  likely  to  see  her  husband,  had 
flown  to  tea  as  an  agitated  woman  will,  and  finally,  on  his  com- 
ing in  to  her,  had  broken  into  violent  recriminations.  There- 
fore something  had  occurred  between  seven-thirty  and  nine 
o'clock  which  had  completely  altered  her  feelings  towards  him. 
But  Miss  Morrison  had  been  with  her  during  the  whole  of  that 
hour  and  a  half.  It  was  absolutely  certain,  therefore,  in  spite 
of  her  denial,  that  she  must  know  something  of  the  matter. 

"My  first  conjecture  was,  that  possibly  there  had  been  some 
passages  between  this  young  lady  and  the  old  soldier,  which 
the  former  had  now  confessed  to  the  wife.  That  would  ac- 
count for  the  angry  return,  and  also  for  the  girl's  denial  that 


I*o  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

anything  had  occurred.  Nor  would  it  be  entirely  incompati- 
ble with  most  of  the  words  overheard.  But  there  was  the  ref- 
erence to  David,  and  there  was  the  known  affection  of  the 
Colonel  for  his  wife,  to  weigh  against  it,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
tragic  intrusion  of  this  other  man,  which  might,  of  course,  be 
entirely  disconnected  with  what  had  gone  before.  It  was  not 
easy  to  pick  one's  steps,  but,  on  the  whole,  I  was  inclined  to 
dismiss  the  idea  that  there  had  been  anything  between  the 
Colonel  and  Miss  Morrison,  but  more  than  ever  convinced 
that  the  young  lady  held  the  clue  as  to  what  it  was  which 
had  turned  Mrs.  Barclay  to  hatred  of  her  husband.  I  took 
the  obvious  coursCj  therefore,  of  calling  upon  Miss  M.,  of  ex- 
plaining to  her  that  I  was  perfectly  certain  that  she  held  the 
facts  in  her  possession,  and  of  assuring  her  that  her  friend, 
Mrs.  Barclay,  might  find  herself  in  the  dock  upon  a  capital 
charge  unless  the  matter  were  cleared  up. 

"  Miss  Morrison  is  a  little  ethereal  slip  of  a  girl,  with  timid 
eyes  and  blond  hair,  but  I  found  her  by  no  means  wanting  in 
shrewdness  and  common-sense.  She  sat  thinking  for  some 
time  after  I  had  spoken,  and  then,  turning  to  me  with  a  brisk 
air  of  resolution,  she  broke  into  a  remarkable  statement  which 
I  will  condense  for  your  benefit. 

" '  I  promised  my  friend  that  I  would  say  nothing  of  the 
matter,  and  a  promise  is  a  promise,'  said  she ;  '  but  if  I  can 
really  help  her  when  so  serious  a  charge  is  laid  against  her, 
and  when  her  own  mouth,  poor  darling,  is  closed  by  illness, 
then  I  think  I  am  absolved  from  my  promise.  I  will  tell  you 
exactly  what  happened  upon  Monday  evening. 

"  'We  were  returning  from  the  Watt  Street  Mission  about  a 
quarter  to  nine  o'clock.  On  our  way  we  had  to  pass  through 
Hudson  Street,  which  is  a  very  quiet  thoroughfare.  There  is 
only  one  lamp  in  it,  upon  the  left-hand  side,  and  as  we  ap- 
proached this  lamp  I  saw  a  man  coming  towards  us  with  his 
back  very  bent,  and  something  like  a  box  slung  over  one  of 
his  shoulders.  He  appeared  to  be  deformed,  for  he  carried 
bis  head  low  and  walked  with  his  knees  bent.  We  were 


THE    CROOKED    MAN  14-) 

passing  him  when  he  raised  his  face  to  look  at  us  in  the  circle 
of  light  thrown  by  the  lamp,  and  as  he  did  so  he  stopped 
and  screamed  out  in  a  dreadful  voice,  "  My  God,  it's  Nancy !" 
Mrs.  Barclay  turned  as  white  as  death,  and  would  have  fallen 
down  had  the  dreadful-looking  creature  not  caught  hold  of 
her.  I  was  going  to  call  for  the  police,  but  she,  to  my  sur- 
prise, spoke  quite  civilly  to  the  fellow. 

"  ' "  I  thought  you  had  been  dead  this  thirty  years,  Henry," 
said  she,  in  a  shaking  voice. 

" ' "  So  I  have,"  said  he,  and  it  was  awful  to  hear  the  tones 
that  he  said  it  in.  He  had  a  very  dark,  fearsome  face,  and  a 
gleam  in  his  eyes  that  comes  back  to  me  in  my  dreams.  His 
hair  and  whiskers  were  shot  with  gray,  and  his  face  was  all 
crinkled  and  puckered  like  a  withered  apple. 

" ' "  Just  walk  on  a  little  way,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Barclay ;  "  I 
want  to  have  a  word  with  this  man.  There  is  nothing  to  be 
afraid  of."  She  tried  to  speak  boldly,  but  she  was  still  deadly 
pale  and  could  hardly  get  her  words  out  for  the  trembling  of 
her  lips. 

"  '  I  did  as  she  asked  me,  and  they  talked  together  for  a  few 
minutes.  Then  she  came  down  the  street  with  her  eyes  blaz- 
ing, and  I  saw  the  crippled  wretch  standing  by  the  lamp-post 
and  shaking  his  clenched  fists  in  the  air  as  if  he  were  mad 
with  rage.  She  never  said  a  word  until  we  were  at  the  door 
here,  when  she  took  me  by  the  hand  and  begged  me  to  tell 
no  one  what  had  happened. 

" ' "  It's  an  old  acquaintance  of  mine  who  has  come  down 
in  the  world,"  said  she.  When  I  promised  her  I  would  say 
nothing  she  kissed  me,  and  I  have  never  seen  her  since.  I 
have  told  you  now  the  whole  truth,  and  if  I  withheld  it  from 
the  police  it  is  because  I  did  not  realize  then  the  danger  in 
which  my  dear  friend  stood.  I  know  that  it  can  only  be  to 
her  advantage  that  everything  should  be  known.' 

"  There  was  her  statement,  Watson,  and  to  me,  as  you  can 
imagine,  it  was  like  a  light  on  a  dark  night.  Everything 
which  had  been  disconnected  before  began  at  once  to  assume 


150  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

its  true  place,  and  I  had  a  shadowy  presentiment  ot  the 
whole  sequence  of  events.  My  next  step  obviously  was  to 
find  the  man  who  had  produced  such  a  remarkable  impres- 
sion upon  Mrs.  Barclay.  If  he  were  still  in  Aldershot  it 
should  not  be  a  very  difficult  matter.  There  are  not  such  a 
very  great  number  of  civilians,  and  a  deformed  man  was  sure 
to  have  attracted  attention.  I  spent  a  day  in  the  search,  and 
by  evening — this  very  evening,  Watson — I  had  run  him  down. 
The  man's  name  is  Henry  Wood,  and  he  lives  in  lodgings  in 
this  same  street  in  which  the  ladies  met  him.  He  has  only 
been  five  days  in  the  place.  In  the  character  of  a  registra- 
tion-agent I  had  a  most  interesting  gossip  with  his  landlady. 
The  man  is  by  trade  a  conjurer  and  performer,  going  round 
the  canteens  after  nightfall,  and  giving  a  little  entertainment 
at  each.  He  carries  some  creature  about  with  him  in  that 
box,  about  which  the  landlady  seemed  to  be  in  considerable 
trepidation,  for  she  had  never  seen  an  animal  like  it.  He 
uses  it  in  some  of  his  tricks  according  to  her  account.  So 
much  the  woman  was  able  to  tell  me,  and  also  that  it  was  a 
wonder  the  man  lived,  seeing  how  twisted  he  was,  and  that  he 
spoke  in  a  strange  tongue  sometimes,  and  that  for  the  last 
two  nights  she  had  heard  him  groaning  and  weeping  in  his 
bedroom.  He  was  all  right,  as  far  as  money  went,  but  in  his 
deposit  he  had  given  her  what  looked  like  a  bad  florin.  She 
showed  it  to  me,  Watson,  and  it  was  an  Indian  rupee. 

"  So  now,  my  dear  fellow,  you  see  exactly  how  we  stand  and 
why  it  is  I  want  you.  It  is  perfectly  plain  that  after  the  ladies 
parted  from  this  man  he  followed  them  at  a  distance,  that  he 
saw  the  quarrel  between  husband  and  wife  through  the  win- 
dow, that  he  rushed  in,  and  that  the  creature  which  he  carried 
in  his  box  got  loose.  That  is  all  very  certain.  But  he  is  the 
only  person  in  this  world  who  can  tell  us  exactly  what  hap 
pened  in  that  room." 

"  And  you  intend  to  ask  him  ?" 

"  Most  certainly — but  in  the  presence  of  a  witness." 

"  And  I  am  the  witness  ?" 


THE   CROOKED    MAN  I$t 

"  If  you  will  be  so  good.  If  he  can  clear  the  matter  up, 
well  and  good.  If  he  refuses,  we  have  no  alternative  but  to 
apply  for  a  warrant." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  he'll  be  there  when  we  return  ?" 
"  You  may  be  sure  that  I  took  some  precautions.  I  have 
one  of  my  Baker  Street  boys  mounting  guard  over  him  who 
would  stick  to  him  like  a  burr,  go  where  he  might.  We  shall 
find  him  in  Hudson  Street  to-morrow,  Watson,  and  meanwhile 
I  should  be  the  criminal  myself  if  I  kept  you  out  of  bed  any 
longer." 

It  was  midday  when  we  found  ourselves  at  the  scene  of  the 
tragedy,  and,  under  my  companion's  guidance,  we  made  our 
way  at  once  to  Hudson  Street.  In  spite  of  his  capacity  for 
concealing  his  emotions,  I  could  easily  see  that  Holmes  was 
in  a  state  of  suppressed  excitement,  while  I  was  myself  tin- 
gling with  that  half-sporting,  half-intellectual  pleasure  which  I 
invariably  experienced  when  I  associated  myself  with  him  in 
his  investigations. 

"This  is  the  street,"  said  he,  as  we  turned  into  a  short 
thoroughfare  lined  with  plain  two-storied  brick  houses.  "Ah, 
here  is  Simpson  to  report." 

"  He's  in  all  right,  Mr.  Holmes,"  cried  a  small  street  Arab, 
running  up  to  us. 

"  Good,  Simpson  !"  said  Holmes,  patting  him  on  the  head. 
"  Come  along.  Watson.  This  is  the  house."  He  sent  in  his 
card  with  a  message  that  he  had  come  on  important  business, 
and  a  moment  later  we  were  face  to  face  with  the  man  whom 
we  had  come  to  see.  In  spite  of  the  warm  weather  he  was 
crouching  over  a  fire,  and  the  little  room  was  like  an  oven. 
The  man  sat  all  twisted  and  huddled  in  his  chair  in  a  way 
which  gave  an  indescribable  impression  of  deformity ;  but  the 
face  which  he  turned  towards  us,  though  worn  and  swarthy, 
must  at  some  time  have  been  remarkable  for  its  beauty. 
He  looked  suspiciously  at  us  now  out  of  yellow-shot,  bilious 
eyes,  and,  without  speaking  or  rising,  he  waved  towards  two 
chairs. 


152  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  Mr.  Henry  Wood,  late  of  India,  I  believe,"  said  Holmes, 
affably.  "  I've  come  over  this  little  matter  of  Colonel  Bar- 
clay's death." 

"What  should  I  know  about  that?" 

"  That's  what  I  want  to  ascertain.  You  know,  I  suppose, 
that  unless  the  matter  is  cleared  up,  Mrs.  Barclay,  who  is  an 
old  friend  of  yours,  will  in  all  probability  be  tried  for  murder." 

The  man  gave  a  violent  start. 

"  I  don't  know  who  you  are,"  he  cried,  "  nor  how  you  come 
to  know  what  you  do  know,  but  will  you  swear  that  this  is 
true  that  you  tell  me  ?" 

"  Why,  they  are  only  waiting  for  her  to  come  to  her  senses 
to  arrest  her." 

"  My  God  !     Are  you  in  the  police  yourself  ?" 

"  No." 

"  What  business  is  it  of  yours,  then  ?" 

"  It's  every  man's  business  to  see  justice  done." 

"  You  can  take  my  word  that  she  is  innocent." 

"Then  you  are  guilty." 

"  No,  I  am  not." 

"  Who  killed  Colonel  James  Barclay,  then  ?" 

"  It  was  a  just  providence  that  killed  him.  But,  mind  you 
this,  that  if  I  had  knocked  his  brains  out,  as  it  was  in  my 
heart  to  do,  he  would  have  had  no  more  than  his  due  from 
my  hands.  If  his  own  guilty  conscience  had  not  struck  him 
down  it  is  likely  enough  that  I  might  have  had  his  blood 
upon  my  soul.  You  want  me  to  tell  the  story.  Well,  I  don't 
know  why  I  shouldn't,  for  there's  no  cause  for  me  to  be 
ashamed  of  it. 

"  It  was  in  this  way,  sir.  You  see  me  now  with  my  back 
like  a  camel  and  my  ribs  all  awry,  but  there  was  a  time  when 
Corporal  Henry  Wood  was  the  smartest  man  in  the  uyth 
foot.  We  were  in  India  then,  in  cantonments,  at  a  place 
we'll  call  Bhurtee.  Barclay,  who  died  the  other  day,  was  ser- 
geant in  the  same  company  as  myself,  and  the  belle  of  the 
regiment,  ay,  and  the  finest  girl  that  ever  had  the  breath  of 


THE    CROOKED    MAN  153 

life  between  her  lips,  was  Nancy  Devoy,  the  daughter  of  the 
color-sergeant.  There  were  two  men  that  loved  her,  and  one 
tha-t  she  loved,  and  you'll  smile  when  you  look  at  this  poor 
thing  huddled  before  the  fire,  and  hear  me  say  that  it  was  for 
my  good  looks  that  she  loved  me. 

"  Well,  though  I  had  her  heart,  her  father  was  set  upon  her 
marrying  Barclay.  I  was  a  harum-scarum,  reckless  lad,  and 
he  had  had  an  education,  and  was  already  marked  for  the 
sword-belt.  But  the  girl  held  true  to  me,  and  it  seemed  that 
I  would  have  had  her  when  the  Mutiny  broke  out,  and  all  hell 
was  loose  in  the  country. 

"  We  were  shut  up  in  Bhurtee,  the  regiment  of  us  with  half 
a  battery  of  artillery,  a  company  of  Sikhs,  and  a  lot  of  civil- 
ians and  women-folk.  There  were  ten  thousand  rebels  round 
us,  and  they  were  as  keen  as  a  set  of  terriers  round  a  rat- 
cage.  About  the  second  week  of  it  our  water  gave  out,  and 
it  was  a  question  whether  we  could  communicate  with  Gen- 
eral Neill's  column,  which  was  moving  up  country.  It  was 
our  only  chance,  for  we  could  not  hope  to  fight  our  way  out 
with  all  the  women  and  children,  so  I  volunteered  to  go  out 
and  to  warn  General  Neill  of  our  danger.  My  offer  was  ac- 
cepted, and  I  talked  it  over  with  Sergeant  Barclay,  who  was 
supposed  to  know  the  ground  better  than  any  other  man,  and 
who  drew  up  a  route  by  which  I  might  get  through  the  rebel 
lines.  At  ten  o'clock  the  same  night  I  started  off  upon  my 
journey.  There  were  a  thousand  lives  to  save,  but  it  was  of 
only  one  that  I  was  thinking  when  I  dropped  over  the  wall 
that  night. 

"  My  way  ran  down  a  dried-up  watercourse,  which  we  hoped 
would  screen  me  from  the  enemy's  sentries ;  but  as  I  crept 
round  the  corner  of  it  I  walked  right  into  six  of  them,  who 
were  crouching  down  in  the  dark  waiting  for  me.  In  an  in- 
stant I  was  stunned  with  a  blow  and  bound  hand  and  foot. 
But  the  real  blow  was  to  my  heart  and  not  to  my  head,  for  as 
I  came  to  and  listened  to  as  much  as  I  could  understand  of 
their  talk,  I  heard  enough  to  tell  me  that  my  comrade,  the 


154  MEMOIRS   OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

very  man  who  had  arranged  the  way  that  I  was  to  take,  had 
betrayed  me  by  means  of  a  native  servant  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy. 

"  Well,  there's  no  need  for  me  to  dwell  on  that  part  of  it. 
You  know  now  what  James  Barclay  was  capable  of.  Bhurtee 
was  relieved  by  Neill  next  day,  but  the  rebels  took  me  away 
with  them  in  their  retreat,  and  it  was  many  a  long  year  before 
ever  I  saw  a  white  face  again.  I  was  tortured  and  tried  to 
get  away,  and  was  captured  and  tortured  again.  You  can  see 
for  yourselves  the  state  in  which  I  was  left.  Some  of  them 
that  fled  into  Nepaul  took  me  with  them,  and  then  afterwards 
I  was  up  past  Darjeeling.  The  hill-folk  up  there  murdered 
the  rebels  who  had  me,  and  I  became  their  slave  for  a  time 
until  I  escaped ;  but  instead  of  going  south  I  had  to  go  north, 
until  I  found  myself  among  the  Afghans.  There  I  wandered 
about  for  many  a  year,  and  at  last  came  back  to  the  Punjaub, 
where  I  lived  mostly  among  the  natives  and  picked  up  a  liv- 
ing by  the  conjuring  tricks  that  I  had  learned.  What  use 
was  it  for  me,  a  wretched  cripple,  to  go  back  to  England  or  to 
make  myself  known  to  my  old  comrades  ?  Even  my  wish  for 
revenge  would  not  make  me  do  that.  I  had  rather  that  Nancy 
and  my  old  pals  should  think  of  Harry  Wood  as  having  died 
with  a  straight  back,  than  see  him  living  and  crawling  with  a 
stick  like  a  chimpanzee.  They  never  doubted  that  I  was 
dead,  and  I  meant  that  they  never  should.  I  heard  that  Bar- 
clay had  married  Nancy,  and  that  he  was  rising  rapidly  in  the 
regiment,  but  even  that  did  not  make  me  speak. 

"  But  when  one  gets  old  one  has  a  longing  for  home.  For 
years  I've  been  dreaming  of  the  bright  green  fields  and  the 
hedges  of  England.  At  last  I  determined  to  see  them  before 
I  died.  I  saved  enough  to  bring  me  across,  and  then  I  came 
here  where  the  soldiers  are,  for  I  know  their  ways  and  how 
to  amuse  them  and  so  earn  enough  to  keep  me." 

"  Your  narrative  is  most  interesting,"  said  Sherlock  Holmes. 
44 1  have  already  heard  of  your  meeting  with  Mrs.  Barclay,  and 
vour  mutual  recognition.  You  then,  as  I  understand,  io\ 


THE   CROOKED   MAN  155 

lowed  her  home  and  saw  through  the  window  an  altercation 
between  her  husband  and  her,  in  which  she  doubtless  cast 
his  conduct  to  you  in  his  teeth.  Your  own  feelings  overcame 
you,  and  you  ran  across  the  lawn  and  broke  in  upon  them." 

"  I  did,  sir,  and  at  the  sight  of  me  he  looked  as  I  have 
never  seen  a  man  look  before,  and  over  he  went  with  his  head 
on  the  fender.  But  he  was  dead  before  he  fell.  I  read  death 
on  his  face  as  plain  as  I  can  read  that  text  over  the  fire.  The 
bare  sight  of  me  was  like  a  bullet  through  his  guilty  heart." 

"  And  then  ?" 

"  Then  Nancy  fainted,  and  I  caught  up  the  key  of  the  door 
from  her  hand,  intending  to  unlock  it  and  get  help.  But 
as  I  was  doing  it  it  seemed  to  me  better  to  leave  it  alone  and 
get  away,  for  the  thing  might  look  black  against  me,  and  any 
way  my  secret  would  be  out  if  I  were  taken.  In  my  haste  I 
thrust  the  key  into  my  pocket,  and  dropped  my  stick  while 
I  was  chasing  Teddy,  who  had  run  up  the  curtain.  When  I 
got  him  into  his  box,  from  which  he  had  slipped,  I  was  off  as 
fast  as  I  could  run." 

"  Who's  Teddy  ?"  asked  Holmes. 

The  man  leaned  over  and  pulled  up  the  front  of  a  kind  of 
hutch  in  the  corner.  In  an  instant  out  there  slipped  a  beau- 
tiful reddish-brown  creature,  thin  and  lithe,  with  the  legs  of 
a  stoat,  a  long,  thin  nose,  and  a  pair  of  the  finest  red  eyes 
that  ever  I  saw  in  an  animal's  head. 

"  It's  a  mongoose,"  I  cried. 

"  Well,  some  call  them  that,  and  some  call  them  ichneu- 
mon," said  the  man.  "  Snake-catcher  is  what  I  call  them,  and 
Teddy  is  amazing  quick  on  cobras.  I  have  one  here  without 
the  fangs,  and  Teddy  catches  it  every  night  to  please  the  folk 
in  the  canteen. 

"  Any  other  point,  sir  ?" 

"  Well,  we  may  have  to  apply  to  you  again  if  Mrs.  Barclay 
should  prove  to  be  in  serious  trouble." 

"  In  that  case,  of  course,  I'd  come  forward." 

"  But  if  not,  there  is  no  object  in  raking  up  this  scandal 


C$6  MEMOIRS   OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

against  a  dead  man,  foully  as  he  has  acted.  You  have  at 
least  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  for  thirty  years  of  his 
life  his  conscience  bitterly  reproached  him  for  this  wicked 
deed.  Ah,  there  goes  Major  Murphy  on  the  other  side  of  the 
street.  Good-by,  Wood.  I  want  to  learn  if  anything  has 
Jmppened  since  yesterday." 

We  were  in  time  to  overtake  the  major  before  he  reached 
the  corner. 

"  Ah,  Holmes,"  he  said ;  "  I  suppose  you  have  heard  that 
all  this  fuss  has  come  to  nothing?" 

"  What  then  ?" 

"  The  inquest  is  just  over.  The  medical  evidence  showed 
•conclusively  that  death  was  due  to  apoplexy.  You  see  it  was 
quite  a  simple  case  after  all." 

"Oh,  remarkably  superficial,"  said  Holmes,  smiling.  "Corne, 
Watson,  I  don't  think  we  shall  be  wanted  in  Aldershot  any 
more." 

"  There's  one  thing,"  said  I,  as  we  walked  down  to  the  sta- 
tion. "  If  the  husband's  name  was  James,  and  the  other  was 
Henry,  what  was  this  talk  about  David  ?" 

"  That  one  word,  my  dear  Watson,  should  have  told  me  the 
whole  story  had  I  been  the  ideal  reasoner  which  you  are  so 
fond  of  depicting.  It  was  evidently  a  term  of  reproach." 

"  Of  reproach  ?" 

"  Yes ;  David  strayed  a  little  occasionally,  you  know,  and  on 
one  occasion  in  the  same  direction  as  Sergeant  James  Barclay. 
You  remember  the  small  affair  of  Uriah  and  Bathsheba  ?  My 
biblical  knowledge  is  a  trifle  rusty,  I  fear,  but  you  will  find 
the  story  in  the  first  or  second  of  Samuel." 


BMoenture  II 

THE    RESIDENT    PATIENT 

>N  glancing  over  the  somewhat  incoherent  series  of 
Memoirs  with  which  I  have  endeavored  to  illus- 
trate a  few  of  the  mental  peculiarities  of  my 
friend  Mr,  Sherlock  Holmes,  I  have  been  struck 
by  the  difficulty  which  I  have  experienced  in 
picking  out  examples  which  shall  in  every  way  answer  my 
purpose.  For  in  those  cases  in  which  Holmes  has  performed 
some  tour  de  force  of  analytical  reasoning,  and  has  demon- 
strated the  value  of  his  peculiar  methods  of  investigation,  the 
facts  themselves  have  often  been  so  slight  or  so  commonplace 
that  I  could  not  feel  justified  in  laying  them  before  the  pub- 
lic. On  the  other  hand,  it  has  frequently  happened  that  he 
has  been  concerned  in  some  research  where  the  facts  have 
been  of  the  most  remarkable  and  dramatic  character,  but 
where  the  share  which  he  has  himself  taken  in  determining 
their  causes  has  been  less  pronounced  than  I,  as  his  biogra- 
pher, could  wish.  The  small  matter  which  I  have  chronicled 
under  the  heading  of  "  A  Study  in  Scarlet,"  and  that  other 
later  one  connected  with  the  loss  of  the  Gloria  Scott,  may 
serve  as  examples  of  this  Scylla  and  Charybdis  which  are  for- 
ever threatening  the  historian.  It  may  be  that  in  the  busi- 
ness of  which  I  am  now  about  to  write  the  part  which  my 
friend  played  is  not  sufficiently  accentuated;  and  yet  the  whole 
train  of  circumstances  is  so  remarkable  that  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  omit  it  entirely  from  this  series. 

It  had  been  a  close,  rainy  day  in  October.  Our  blinds 
were  half-drawn,  and  Holmes  lay  curled  upon  the  sofa,  read- 
ing and  re-reading  a  letter  which  he  had  received  by  the 


158  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

morning  post.  For  myself,  my  term  of  service  in  India  had 
trained  me  to  stand  heat  better  than  cold,  and  a  thermometer 
of  90  was  no  hardship.  But  the  paper  was  uninteresting. 
Parliament  had  risen.  Everybody  was  out  of  town,  and  7 
yearned  for  the  glades  of  the  New  Forest  or  the  shingle  of 
Southsea.  A  depleted  bank  account  had  caused  me  to  post- 
pone my  holiday,  and  as  to  my  companion,  neither  the  country 
nor  the  sea  presented  the  slightest  attraction  to  him.  He 
loved  to  lie  in  the  very  centre  of  five  millions  of  people,  with 
his  filaments  stretching  out  and  running  through  them,  re- 
sponsive to  every  little  rumor  or  suspicion  of  unsolved  crime. 
Appreciation  of  Nature  found  no  place  among  his  many  gifts, 
and  his  only  change  was  when  he  turned  his  mind  from  the 
evil-doer  of  the  town  to  track  down  his  brother  of  the  country. 

Finding  that  Holmes  was  too  absorbed  for  conversation,  I 
had  tossed  aside  the  barren  paper,  and  leaning  back  in  my 
chair,  I  fell  into  a  brown  study.  Suddenly  my  companion's 
voice  broke  in  upon  my  thoughts. 

"You  are  right,  Watson,"  said  he.  "It  does  seem  a  very 
preposterous  way  of  settling  a  dispute." 

"Most  preposterous!"  I  exclaimed,  and  then,  suddenly  real- 
izing how  he  had  echoed  the  inmost  thought  of  my  soul,  I  sat 
up  in  my  chair  and  stared  at  him  in  blank  amazement. 

"What  is  this,  Holmes?"  I  cried.  "This  is  beyond  any- 
thing which  I  could  have  imagined." 

He  laughed  heartily  at  my  perplexity. 

"You  remember,"  said  he,  "that  some  little  time  ago,  when 
I  read  you  the  passage  in  one  of  Poe's  sketches,  in  which  a 
close  reasoner  follows  the  unspoken  thoughts  of  his  companion, 
you  were  inclined  to  treat  the  matter  as  a  mere  tour-de-force  of 
the  author.  On  my  remarking  that  I  was  constantly  in  the 
habit  of  doing  the  same  thing  you  expressed  incredulity." 

"  Oh,  no !" 

"  Perhaps  not  with  your  tongue,  my  dear  Watson,  but  cer- 
tainly with  your  eyebrows.  So  when  I  saw  you  throw  dovra 
your  paper  and  enter  upon  a  train  of  thought,  I  was  very 
happy  to  have  the  opportunity  of  reading  it  off,  and  eventually 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIENT  159 

of  breaking  into  it,  as  a  proof  that  I  had  been  in  rapport  with 
you." 

But  I  was  still  far  from  satisfied.  "  In  the  example  which 
you  read  to  me,"  said  I,  "the  reasoner  drew  his  conclusions 
from  the  actions  of  the  man  whom  he  observed.  If  I  remem- 
ber right,  he  stumbled  over  a  heap  of  stones,  looked  up  at  the 
stars,  and  so  on.  But  I  have  been  seated  quietly  in  my  chair, 
and  what  clews  can  I  have  given  you  ?" 

"  You  do  yourself  an  injustice.  The  features  are  given  to 
man  as  the  means  by  which  he  shall  express  his  emotions, 
and  yours  are  faithful  servants." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  read  my  train  of  thoughts 
from  my  features  ?" 

"Your  features,  and  especially  your  eyes.  Perhaps  you 
cannot  yourself  recall  how  your  reverie  commenced  ?" 

"  No,  I  cannot." 

"Then  I  will  tell  you.  After  throwing  down  your  paper, 
which  was  the  action  which  drew  my  attention  to  you,  you  sat 
for  half  a  minute  with  a  vacant  expression.  Then  your  eyes 
fixed  themselves  upon  your  newly-framed  picture  of  General 
Gordon,  and  I  saw  by  the  alteration  in  your  face  that  a  train 
of  thought  had  been  started.  But  it  did  not  lead  very  far. 
Your  eyes  turned  across  to  the  unframed  portrait  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  which  stands  upon  the  top  of  your  books.  You 
then  glanced  p  at  the  wall,  and  of  course  your  meaning  was 
obvious.  You  were  thinking  that  if  the  portrait  were  framed 
it  would  just  cover  that  bare  space  and  correspond  with  Gor- 
don's picture  over  there." 

"You  have  followed  me  wonderfully!"  I  exclaimed. 

"  So  far  I  could  hardly  have  gone  astray.  But  now  your 
thoughts  went  back  to  Beecher,  and  you  looked  hard  across 
as  if  you  were  studying  the  character  in  his  features.  Then 
your  eyes  ceased  to  pucker,  but  you  continued  to  look  across, 
and  your  face  was  thoughtful.  You  were  recalling  the  inci- 
dents of  Beecher's  career.  I  was  well  aware  that  you  could 
not  do  this  without  thinking  of  the  mission  which  he  under- 
took oa  behalf  of  the  North  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  for 


l6<>  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

I  remember  you  expressing  your  passionate  indignation  at 
the  way  in  which  he  was  received  by  the  more  turbulent  of 
our  people.  You  felt  so  strongly  about  it  that  I  knew  you 
could  not  think  of  Beecher  without  thinking  of  that  also. 
When  a  moment  later  I  saw  your  eyes  wander  away  from  the 
picture,  I  suspected  that  your  mind  had  now  turned  to  the 
Civil  War,  and  when  I  observed  that  your  lips  set,  your  eyes 
sparkled,  and  your  hands  clinched,  I  was  positive  that  you 
were  indeed  thinking  of  the  gallantry  which  was  shown  by 
both  sides  in  that  desperate  struggle.  But  then,  again,  your 
face  grew  sadder ;  you  shook  your  head.  You  were  dwelling 
upon  the  sadness  and  horror  and  useless  waste  of  life.  Your 
hand  stole  towards  your  own  old  wound,  and  a  smile  quivered 
on  your  lips,  which  showed  me  that  the  ridiculous  side  of  this 
method  of  settling  international  questions  had  forced  itself 
upon  your  mind.  At  this  point  I  agreed  with  you  that  it  was 
preposterous,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  all  my  deductions  had 
been  correct." 

"  Absolutely !"  said  I.  "  And  now  that  you  have  explained 
it,  I  confess  that  I  am  as  amazed  as  before." 

"  It  was  very  superficial,  my  dear  Watson,  I  assure  you.  I 
should  not  have  intruded  it  upon  your  attention  had  you  not 
shown  some  incredulity  the  other  day.  But  the  evening  has 
brought  a  breeze  with  it  What  do  you  say  to  a  ramble 
through  London  ?" 

I  was  weary  of  our  little  sitting-room  and  gladly  acquiesced. 
For  three  hours  we  strolled  about  together,  watching  the  ever- 
changing  kaleidoscope  of  life  as  it  ebbs  and  flows  through 
Fleet  Street  and  the  Strand.  His  characteristic  talk,  with  its 
keen  observance  of  detail  and  subtle  power  of  inference,  held  me 
amused  and  enthralled.  It  was  ten  o'clock  before  we  reached 
Baker  Street  again.  A  brougham  was  waiting  at  our  door. 

"  Hum !  A  doctor's — general  practitioner,  I  perceive,"  said 
Holmes.  "  Not  been  long  in  practice,  but  has  had  a  good  deal 
to  do.  Come  to  consult  us,  I  fancy!  Lucky  we  came  back !" 

I  was  sufficiently  conversant  with  Holmes's  methods  to  be 
able  to  follow  his  reasoning,  and  to  see  that  the  nature  and 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIENT  l6l 

state  of  the  various  medical  instruments  in  the  wicker  basket 
which  hung  in  the  lamplight  inside  the  brougham  had  given 
him  the  data  for  his  swift  deduction.  The  light  in  our  window 
above  showed  that  this  late  visit  was  indeed  intended  for  us. 
With  some  curiosity  as  to  what  could  have  sent  a  brother  medi- 
co to  us  at  such  an  hour,  I  followed  Holmes  into  our  sanctum. 

A  pale,  taper-faced  man  with  sandy  whiskers  rose  up  from 
a  chair  by  the  fire  as  we  entered.  His  age  may  not  have  been 
more  than  three  or  four  and  thirty,  but  his  haggard  expression 
and  unhealthy  hue  told  of  a  life  which  had  sapped  his  strength 
and  robbed  him  of  his  youth.  His  manner  was  nervous  and 
shy,  like  that  of  a  sensitive  gentleman,  and  the  thin  white 
hand  which  he  laid  on  the  mantelpiece  as  he  rose  was  that 
of  an  artist  rather  than  of  a  surgeon.  His  dress  was  quiet 
and  sombre — a  black  frock-coat,  dark  trousers,  and  a  touch  of 
color  about  his  necktie. 

"  Good-evening,  doctor,"  said  Holmes,  cheerily.  "  I  am  glad 
to  see  that  you  have  only  been  waiting  a  very  few  minutes." 

"  You  spoke  to  my  coachman,  then  ?" 

"  No,  it  was  the  candle  on  the  side-table  that  told  me.  Pray 
resume  your  seat  and  let  me  know  how  I  can  serve  you." 

"  My  name  is  Doctor  Percy  Trevelyan,"  said  our  visitor, 
"  and  I  live  at  403  Brook  Street." 

"  Are  you  not  the  author  of  a  monograph  upon  obscure 
nervous  lesions  ?"  I  asked. 

His  pale  cheeks  flushed  with  pleasure  at  hearing  that  his 
work  was  known  to  me. 

"  I  so  seldom  hear  of  the  work  that  I  thought  it  was  quite 
dead,"  said  he.  "  My  publishers  gave  me  a  most  discourag- 
ing account  of  its  sale.  You  are  yourself,  I  presume,  a  med- 
ical man  ?" 

"  A  retired  army  surgeon." 

"  My  own  hobby  has  always  been  nervous  disease.  I  should 
wish  to  make  it  an  absolute  specialty,  but,  of  course,  a  man 
must  take  what  he  can  get  at  first.  This,  however,  is  beside 
the  question,  Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes,  and  I  quite  appreciate 


1 62  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

how  valuable  your  time  is.  The  fact  is  that  a  very  singular 
train  of  events  has  occurred  recently  at  my  house  in  Brook 
Street,  and  to-night  they  came  to  such  a  head  that  I  felt  it 
was  quite  impossible  for  me  to  wait  another  hour  before  ask- 
ing for  your  advice  and  assistance." 

Sherlock  Holmes  sit  down  and  lit  his  pipe.  "  You  are  very 
welcome  to  both,"  said  he.  "  Pray  let  me  have  a  detailed  ac- 
.count  of  what  the  circumstances  are  which  have  disturbed 
you." 

"One  or  two  of  them  are  so  trivial/1  said  Dr.  Trevelyan, 
"  that  really  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  mention  them.  But  the 
matter  is  so  inexplicable,  and  the  recent  turn  which  it  has 
taken  is  so  elaborate,  that  I  shall  lay  it  all  before  you,  and 
you  shall  judge  what  is  essential  and  what  is  not. 

"I  am  compelled,  to  begin  with,  to  say  something  of  my 
own  college  cr.reer.  I  am  a  London  University  man,  you 
know,  and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  not  think  that  I  am  unduly 
singing  my  own  praises  if  I  say  that  my  student  career  was 
considered  by  my  professors  to  be  a  very  promising  one. 
After  I  had  graduated  I  continued  to  devote  myself  to  re- 
search, occupying  a  minor  position  in  King's  College  Hos- 
pital, and  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  excite  considerable  in- 
terest by  my  research  into  the  pathology  of  catalepsy,  and 
finally  to  win  the  Bruce  Pinkerton  prize  and  medal  by  the 
monograph  on  nervous  lesions  to  which  your  friend  has  just 
alluded.  I  should  not  go  too  far  if  I  were  to  say  that  there 
was  a  general  impression  at  that  time  that  a  distinguished 
career  lay  before  n:e. 

"  But  the  one  great  stumbling-block  lay  in  my  want  of  capi- 
tal. As  you  will  readily  understand,  a  specialist  who  aims 
high  is  compelled  to  start  in  one  of  a  dozen  streets  in  the 
Cavendish  Square  quarter,  all  of  which  entail  enormous  rents 
and  furnishing  expenses.  Besides  this  preliminary  outlay,  he 
must  be  prepared  to  keep  himself  for  some  years,  and  to  hire 
a  presentable  carriage  and  horse.  To  do  this  was  quite  be- 
yond my  power,  and  I  could  only  hope  that  by  economy  I 
misrht  in  ten  vears'  time  <z»™  ^mrri,  to  enable  me  to  put  up 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIEIfT  163 

my  plate.  Suddenly,  however,  an  unexpected  incident  opened 
up  quite  a  new  prospect  to  me. 

"  This  was  a  visit  from  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Blessing- 
ton,  who  was  a  complete  stranger  to  me.  He  came  up  into  my 
room  one  morning,  and  plunged  into  business  in  an  instant. 

" '  You  are  the  same  Percy  Trevelyan  who  has  had  so  dis- 
tinguished a  career  and  won  a  great  prize  lately  ?'  said  he. 

"  I  bowed. 

"  'Answer  me  frankly,'  he  continued,  'for  you  will  find  it  to 
your  interest  to  do  so.  You  have  all  the  cleverness  which 
makes  a  successful  man.  Have  you  the  tact?' 

"  I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  abruptness  of  the  question. 

" '  I  trust  that  I  have  my  share,'  I  said. 

" '  Any  bad  habits  ?    Not  drawn  towards  drink,  eh  ?' 

"  '  Really,  sir !'  I  cried. 

"  '  Quite  right !  That's  all  right !  But  I  was  bound  to  ask. 
With  all  these  qualities,  why  are  you  not  in  practice  ?' 

"  I  shrugged  my  shoulders. 

"  'Come,  come  !'  said  he,  in  his  bustling  way.  'It's  the  old 
story.  More  in  your  brains  than  in  your  pocket,  eh  ?  What 
would  you  say  if  I  were  to  start  you  in  Brook  Street  ?' 

"  I  stared  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  '  Oh,  it's  for  my  sake,  not  for  yours,'  he  cried.  '  I'll  be 
perfectly  frank  with  you,  and  if  it  suits  you  it  will  suit  me 
very  well.  I  have  a  few  thousands  to  invest,  d'  ye  see,  and  I 
think  I'll  sink  them  in  you.' 

" '  But  why  ?'  I  gasped. 

" '  Well,  it's  just  like  any  other  speculation,  and  safer  than 
most.' 

"  '  What  am  I  to  do,  then  ?' 

" '  I'll  tell  you.  I'll  take  the  house,  furnish  it,  pay  the 
maids,  and  run  the  whole  place.  All  you  have  to  do  is  just 
to  wear  out  your  chair  in  the  consulting  -  room.  I'll  let  you 
have  pocket-money  and  everything.  Then  you  hand  over  to 
me  three  quarters  of  what  you  earn,  and  you  keep  the  other 
quarter  for  yourself,' 

"This  was  thp  strange  proposal,  Mr.  Holmes,  with  which 


164  MEMOIRS  OF  'SHERLOCK  HOLMES 

the  man  Blessington  approached  me.  I  won't  weary  you 
with  the  account  of  how  we  bargained  and  negotiated.  It 
ended  in  my  moving  into  the  house  next  Lady-day,  and  start- 
ing in  practice  on  very  much  the  same  conditions  as  he  had 
suggested.  He  came  himself  to  live  with  me  in  the  character 
of  a  resident  patient  His  heart  was  weak,  it  appears,  and 
he  needed  constant  medical  supervision.  He  turned  the  two 
best  rooms  of  the  first  floor  into  a  sitting-room  and  bedroom 
for  himself.  He  was  a  man  of  singular  habits,  shunning 
company  and  very  seldom  going  out.  His  life  was  irregular, 
but  in  one  respect  he  was  regularity  itself.  Every  evening, 
at  the  same  hour,  he  walked  into  the  consulting-room,  exam- 
ined the  books,  put  down  five  and  three -pence  for  every 
guinea  that  I  had  earned,  and  carried  the  rest  off  to  the 
strong-box  in  his  own  room. 

"  I  may  say  with  confidence  that  he  never  had  occasion  to 
.egret  his  speculation.  From  the  first  it  was  a  success.  A  few 
good  cases  and  the  reputation  which  I  had  won  in  the  hospi- 
tal brought  me  rapidly  to  the  front,  and  during  the  last  few 
years  I  have  made  him  a  rich  man. 

"  So  much,  Mr.  Holmes,  for  my  past  history  and  my  rela- 
tions with  Mr.  Blessington.  It  only  remains  for  me  now  to 
tell  you  what  has  occurred  to  bring  me  here  to-night. 

"  Some  weeks  ago  Mr.  Blessington  came  down  to  me  in,  as 
it  seemed  to  me,  a  state  of  considerable  agitation.  He  spoke 
of  some  burglary  which,  he  said,  had  been  committed  in  the 
West  End,  and  he  appeared,  1  remember,  to  be  quite  unnec- 
essarily excited  about  it,  declaring  that  a  day  should  not  pass 
before  we  should  add  stronger  bolts  to  our  windows  and 
doors.  For  a  week  he  continued  to  be  in  a  peculiar  state 
of  restlessness,  peering  continually  out  of  the  windows,  and 
ceasing  to  take  the  short  walk  which  had  usually  been  the 
prelude  to  his  dinner.  From  his  manner  it  struck  me  that 
he  was  in  mortal  dread  of  something  or  somebody,  but  when 
1  questioned  him  upon  the  point  he  became  so  offensive  that 
I  was  compelled  to  drop  the  subject.  Gradually,  as  time 
passed,  his  fears  appeared  to  die  away,  and  he  had  renewed 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIENT  165 

his  former  habits,  when  a  fresh  event  reduced  him  to  the 
pitiable  state  of  prostration  in  which  he  now  lies. 

"What  happened  was  this.  Two  days  ago  I  received  the 
letter  which  I  now  read  to  you.  Neither  address  nor  date  is 
attached  to  it. 

" '  A  Russian  nobleman  who  is  now  resident  in  England,' 
it  runs,  '  would  be  glad  to  avail  himself  of  the  professional 
assistance  of  Dr.  Percy  Trevelyan.  He  has  been  for  some 
years  a  victim  to  cataleptic  attacks,  on  which,  as  is  well 
known,  Dr.  Trevelyan  is  an  authority.  He  proposes  to  call 
at  about  a  quarter  past  six  to-morrow  evening,  if  Dr.  Trevelyan 
will  make  it  convenient  to  be  at  home.' 

"  This  letter  interested  me  deeply,  because  the  chief  diffi- 
culty in  the  study  of  catalepsy  is  the  rareness  of  the  disease. 
You  may  believe,  then,  that  I  was  in  my  consulting -room 
when,  at  the  appointed  hour,  the  page  showed  in  the  patient. 

"  He  was  an  elderly  man,  thin,  demure,  and  commonplace- 
by  no  means  the  conception  one  forms  of  a  Russian  nobleman. 
I  was  much  more  struck  by  the  appearance  of  his  companion. 
This  was  a  tall  young  man,  surprisingly  handsome,  with  a 
dark,  fierce  face,  and  the  limbs  and  chest  of  a  Hercules.  He 
had  his  hand  under  the  other's  arm  as  they  entered,  and 
helped  him  to  a  chair  with  a  tenderness  which  one  would 
hardly  have  expected  from  his  appearance. 

" '  You  will  excuse  my  coming  in,  doctor,'  said  he  to  me, 
speaking  English  with  a  slight  lisp.  '  This  is  my  father,  and 
his  health  is  a  matter  of  the  most  overwhelming  importance 
to  me.' 

"  I  was  touched  by  this  filial  anxiety.  '  You  would,  per- 
haps, care  to  remain  during  the  consultation  ?'  said  I. 

" '  Not  for  the  world,'  he  cried,  with  a  gesture  of  horror. 
'It  is  more  painful  to  me  than  I  can  express.  If  I  were  to 
see  my  father  in  one  of  these  dreadful  seizures  I  am  convinced 
that  I  should  never  survive  it.  My  own  nervous  system  is  an 
exceptionally  sensitive  one.  With  your  permission,  I  will  re- 
main in  the  waiting-room  while  you  go  into  my  father's  case.' 


166  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"To  this,  of  course,  I  assented,  and  the  young  man  with- 
drew. The  patient  and  I  then  plunged  into  a  discussion  of 
his  case,  of  which  I  took  exhaustive  notes.  He  was  not  re- 
markable for  intelligence,  and  his  answers  were  frequently 
obscure,  which  I  attributed  to  his  limited  acquaintance  with 
our  language.  Suddenly,  however,  as  I  sat  writing,  he  ceased 
to  give  any  answer  at  all  to  my  inquiries,  and  on  my  turning 
towards  him  I  was  shocked  to  see  that  he  was  sitting  br.lt  up- 
right in  his  chair,  staring  at  me  with  a  perfectly  blank  and  rigid 
face.  He  was  again  in  the  grip  of  his  mysterious  malady. 

"  My  first  feeling,  as  I  have  just  said,  was  one  of  pity  and 
horror.  My  second,  I  fear,  was  rather  one  of  professional 
satisfaction.  I  made  notes  of  my  patient's  pulse  and  tem- 
perature, tested  the  rigidity  of  his  muscles,  and  examined  his 
reflexes.  There  was  nothing  markedly  abnormal  in  any  of 
these  conditions,  which  harmonized  with  my  former  experi- 
ences. I  had  obtained  good  results  in  such  cases  by  the 
inhalation  of  nitrite  of  amyl,  and  the  present  seemed  an  admi- 
rable opportunity  of  testing  its  virtues.  The  bottle  was  down- 
stairs in  my  laboratory,  so  leaving  my  patient  seated  in  his 
chair,  I  ran  down  to  get  it.  There  was  some  little  delay  in 
finding  it  —  five  minutes,  Jet  us  say  —  and  then  I  returned. 
Imagine  my  amazement  to  find  the  room  empty  and  the  pa- 
tient gone. 

"  Of  course,  my  first  act  was  to  run  into  the  waiting-room. 
The  son  had  gone  also.  The  hall  door  had  been  closed,  but 
not  shut.  My  page  who  admits  patients  is  a  new  boy  and 
by  no  means  quick.  He  waits  downstairs,  and  runs  up  to 
show  patients  out  when  I  ring  the  consulting-room  bell.  He 
had  heard  nothing,  and  the  affair  remained  a  complete  mys- 
tery. Mr.  Blessington  came  in  from  his  walk  shortly  after- 
wards, but  I  did  not  say  anything  to  him  upon  the  subject, 
for,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  have  got  in  the  way  of  late  of  holding 
as  little  communication  with  him  as  possible. 

"  Well,  I  never  thought  that  I  should  see  anything  more  of 
the  Russian  and  his  son,  so  you  can  imagine  my  amazement 


THE    RESIDENT    PATIENT  l6}' 

when,  at  the  very  same  hour  this  evening,  they  both  came 
marching  into  my  consulting-room,  just  as  they  had  done 
before. 

" '  I  feel  that  I  owe  you  a  great  many  apologies  for  my  ab- 
rupt departure  yesterday,  doctor,'  said  my  patient. 

" '  I  confess  that  I  was  very  much  surprised  at  it,'  said  I. 

" '  Well,  the  fact  is,'  he  remarked,  '  that  when  I  recover 
from  these  attacks  my  mind  is  always  very  clouded  as  to  all 
that  has  gone  before.  I  woke  up  in  a  strange  room,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  and  made  my  way  out  into  the  street  in  a  sort 
of  dazed  way  when  you  were  absent.' 

" '  And  I,'  said  the  son,  '  seeing  my  father  pass  the  door 
of  the  waiting-room,  naturally  thought  that  the  consultation 
had  come  to  an  end.  It  was  not  until  we  had  reached  home 
that  I  began  to  realize  the  true  state  of  affairs.' 

" '  Well,'  said  I,  laughing,  '  there  is  no  harm  done  except 
that  you  puzzled  me  terribly ;  so  if  you,  sir,  would  kindly  step 
into  the  waiting-room  I  shall  be  happy  to  continue  our  con- 
sultation which  was  brought  to  so  abrupt  an  ending.' 

"  For  half  an  hour  or  so  I  discussed  the  old  gentleman's 
symptoms  with  him,  and  then,  having  prescribed  for  him,  I 
saw  him  go  off  upon  the  arm  of  his  son. 

"  I  have  told  you  that  Mr.  Blessington  generally  chose 
this  hour  of  the  day  for  his  exercise.  He  came  in  shortly 
afterwards  and  passed  upstairs.  An  instant  later  I  heard 
him  running  down,  and  he  burst  into  my  consulting-room 
like  a  man  who  is  mad  with  panic. 

" '  Who  has  been  in  my  room  ?'  he  cried. 

" '  No  one,'  said  I. 

" « It's  a  lie !'  he  yelled.     '  Come  up  and  look !' 

"  I  passed  over  the  grossness  of  his  language,  as  he  seemed 
half  out  of  his  mind  with  fear.  When  I  went  upstairs  with 
him  he  pointed  to  several  footprints  upon  the  light  carpet. 

" '  D'  you  mean  to  say  those  are  mine  ?'  he  cried. 

"  They  were  certainly  very  much  larger  than  any  which  he 
could  have  made,  and  were  evidently  quite  fresh.  It  rained 


105  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

hard  this  afternoon,  as  you  know,  and  my  patients  were  the 
only  people  who  called.  It  must  have  been  the  case,  then, 
that  the  man  in  the  waiting-room  had,  for  some  unknown  rea- 
son, while  I  was  busy  with  the  other,  ascended  to  the  room 
of  my  resident  patient.  Nothing  had  been  touched  or  taken, 
but  there  were  the  footprints  to  prove  that  the  intrusion  was 
an  undoubted  fact. 

"  Mr.  Blessington  seemed  more  excited  over  the  matter 
than  I  should  have  thought  possible,  though  of  course  it  was 
enough  to  disturb  anybody's  peace  of  mind.  He  actually  sat 
crying  in  an  arm-chair,  and  I  could  hardly  get  him  to  speak 
coherently.  It  was  his  suggestion  that  I  should  come  round 
to  you,  and  of  course  I  at  once  saw  the  propriety  of  it,  for 
certainly  the  incident  is  a  very  singular  one,  though  he  ap- 
pears to  completely  overrate  its  importance.  If  you  would 
only  come  back  with  me  in  my  brougham,  you  would  at  least 
be  able  to  soothe  him,  though  I  can  hardly  hope  that  you  will 
be  able  to  explain  this  remarkable  occurrence." 

Sherlock  Holmes  had  listened  to  this  long  narrative  with 
an  intentness  which  showed  me  that  his  interest  was  keenly 
aroused.  His  face  was  as  impassive  as  ever,  but  his  lids 
had  drooped  more  heavily  over  his  eyes,  and  his  smoke  had 
curled  up  more  thickly  from  his  pipe  to  emphasize  each  curi- 
ous episode  in  the  doctor's  tale.  As  our  visitor  concluded, 
Holmes  sprang  up  without  a  word,  handed  me  my  hat,  picked 
his  own  from  the  table,  and  followed  Dr.  Trevelyan  to  the 
door.  Within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  had  been  dropped  at 
the  door  of  the  physician's  residence  in  Brook  Street,  one  of 
those  sombre,  flat-faced  houses  which  one  associates  with  a 
West-End  practice.  A  small  page  admitted  us,  and  we  began 
at  once  to  ascend  the  broad,  well-carpeted  stair. 

But  a  singular  interruption  brought  us  to  a  standstill.  The 
light  at  the  top  was  suddenly  whisked  out,  and  from  the  dark- 
ness came  a  reedy,  quavering  voice. 

"  I  have  a  pistol,"  it  cried.  "  I  give  you  my  word  that  I'll 
f»re  if  you  come  any  nearer." 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIENT  169 

"This  really  grows  outrageous,  Mr.  Blessington,"  cried 
Dr.  Trevelyan. 

"  Oh,  then  it  is  you,  doctor,"  said  the  voice,  with  a  great 
heave  of  relief.  "  But  those  other  gentlemen,  are  they  what 
they  pretend  to  be  ?'J 

We  were  conscious  of  a  long  scrutiny  out  of  the  darkness. 

"Yes.  yes,  it's  all  right,"  said  the  voice  at  last.  "  You  can 
come  up,  and  I  am  sorry  if  my  precautions  have  annoyed  you." 

He  relit  the  stair  gas  as  he  spoke,  and  we  saw  before  us  a 
singular-looking  man,  whose  appearance,  as  well  as  his  voice, 
testified  to  his  jangled  nerves.  He  was  very  fat,  but  had  ap- 
parently at  some  time  been  much  fatter,  so  that  the  skin  hung 
about  his  face  in  loose  pouches,  like  the  cheeks  of  a  blood- 
hound. He  was  of  a  sickly  color,  and  his  thin,  sandy  hair 
seemed  to  bristle  up  with  the  intensity  of  his  emotion.  In 
his  hand  he  held  a  pistol,  but  he  thrust  it  into  his  pocket  as 
we  advanced. 

"  Good-evening,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he.  "  I  am  sure  I  am 
very  much  obliged  to  you  tor  coming  round.  No  one  ever 
needed  your  advice  more  than  I  do.  I  suppose  that  Dr.  Tre- 
velyan has  told  you  of  this  most  unwarrantable  intrusion  into 
my  rooms." 

"  Quite  so,"  said  Holmes.  "  Who  are  these  two  men,  Mr. 
Blessington,  ajvi  why  do  they  wish  to  molest  you  ?" 

"  Well,  we"n, '  said  the  resident  patient,  in  a  nervous  fash- 
ion, "  of  course  it  is  hard  to  say  that.  You  can  hardly  expect 
me  to  answer  that,  Mr.  Holmes.'' 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  don't  know  ?" 

"  Come  in  here,  if  you  please.  Just  have  the  kindness  to 
step  in  here." 

He  led  the  way  into  his  bedroom,  which  was  large  and 
comfortably  furnished. 

"  You  see  that,"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  big  black  box  at  the 
end  of  his  bed.  "  I  have  never  been  a  very  rich  man,  Mr. 
Holmes — never  made  but  one  investment  in  my  life,  as  Dr. 
Trevelyan  would  tell  you.  But  I  don't  believe  in  bankers. 


170  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

I  would  never  trust  a  banker,  Mr.  Holmes.  Between  our- 
selves, what  little  I  have  is  in  that  box,  so  you  can  under- 
stand what  it  means  to  me  when  unknown  people  force  them- 
selves into  my  rooms." 

Holmes  looked  at  Blessington  in  his  questioning  way  and 
shook  his  head. 

"  I  cannot  possibly  advise  you  if  you  try  to  deceive  me," 
said  he. 

"  But  I  have  told  you  everything." 

Holmes  turned  on  his  heel  with  a  gesture  of  disgust. 
"  Good-night,  Dr.  Trevelyan,"  said  he. 

"And  no  advice  for  me?"  cried  Blessington,  in  a  breaking 
voice. 

"  My  advice  to  you,  sir,  is  to  speak  the  truth." 

A  minute  later  we  were  in  the  street  and  walking  for  home. 
We  had  crossed  Oxford  Street  and  were  half  way  down  Har- 
ley  Street  before  I  could  get  a  word  from  my  companion. 

"  Sorry  to  bring  you  out  on  such  a  fool's  errand,  Watson," 
he  said  at  last.  "  It  is  an  interesting  case,  too,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  it." 

"  I  can  make  little  of  it,"  I  confessed. 

"Well,  it  is  quite  evident  that  there  are  two  men — more, 
perhaps,  but  at  least  two— who  are  determined  for  some  rea- 
son to  get  at  this  fellow  Blessington.  I  have  no  doubt  in  my 
mind  that  both  on  the  first  and  on  the  second  occasion  that 
young  man  penetrated  to  Blessington's  room,  while  his  con- 
federate, by  an  ingenious  device,  kept  the  doctor  from  inter- 
fering." 

"  And  the  catalepsy  ?" 

"  A  fraudulent  imitation,  Watson,  though  I  should  hardly 
dare  to  hint  as  much  to  our  specialist.  It  is  a  very  easy 
complaint  to  imitate.  I  have  done  it  myself." 

"  And  then  ?" 

"  By  the  purest  chance  Blessington  was  out  on  each  occa- 
sion. Their  reason  for  choosing  so  unusual  an  hour  for  a 
consultation  wa«  obviously  to  insure  that  there  should  be  no 


THE    RESIDENT    PATIENT 


171 


other  patient  in  the  waiting-room.  It  just  happened,  how- 
ever, that  this  hour  coincided  with  Blessington's  constitu- 
tional, which  seems  to  show  that  they  were  not  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  his  daily  routine.  Of  course,  if  they  had  been 
merely  after  plunder  they  would  at  least  have  made  some 
attempt  to  search  for  it.  Besides,  I  can  read  in  a  man's  eye 
when  it  is  his  own  skin  that  he  is  frightened  for.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  this  fellow  could  have  made  two  such  vindictive 
enemies  as  these  appear  to  be  without  knowing  of  it.  I  hold 
it,  therefore,  to  be  certain  that  he  does  know  who  these  men 
are,  and  that  for  reasons  of  his  own  he  suppresses  it.  It  is 
,ust  possible  that  to-morrow  may  find  him  in  a  more  commu- 
nicative mood.'' 

"Is  there  not  one  alternative,"  I  suggested,  "grotesquely 
improbable,  no  doubt,  but  still  just  conceivable  ?  Might 
the  whole  story  of  the  cataleptic  Russian  and  his  son  be  a 
concoction  of  Dr.  Trevelyan's,  who  has,  for  his  own  purposes, 
been  in  Blessington's  rooms  ?" 

I  saw  in  the  gaslight  that  Holmes  wore  an  amused  smile  at 
this  brilliant  departure  of  mine. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  said  he,  "  it  was  one  of  the  first  solu- 
tions which  occurred  to  me,  but  I  was  soon  able  to  corrobo- 
rate the  doctor's  tale.  This  young  man  has  left  prints  upon 
the  stair-carpet  which  made  it  quite  superfluous  for  me  to  ask 
to  see  those  which  he  had  made  in  the  room.  When  I  tell 
you  that  his  shoes  were  square-toed  instead  of  being  pointed 
like  Blessington's,  and  were  quite  an  inch  and  a  third  longer 
than  the  doctor's,  you  will  acknowledge  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  his  individuality.  But  we  may  sleep  on  it  now, 
for  I  shall  be  surprised  if  we  do  not  hear  something  further 
from  Brook  Street  in  the  morning." 

Sherlock  Holmes's  prophecy  was  soon  fulfilled,  and  in  a 
dramatic  fashion.  At  half-past  seven  next  morning,  in  the 
first  dim  glimmer  of  daylight,  I  found  him  standing  by  my 
bedside  in  his  dressing-gown. 


172  MEMOIRS   OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"There's  a  brougham  waiting  for  us,  Watson,"  said  he. 

"  What's  the  matter,  then  ?" 

"The  Brook  Street  business." 

"  Any  fresh  news  ?" 

"Tragic,  but  ambiguous,"  said  he,  pulling  up  the  blind. 
"  Look  at  this — a  sheet  from  a  note-book,  with  '  For  God's 
sake  come  at  once — P.  T.,'  scrawled  upon  it  in  pencil.  Our 
friend,  the  doctor,  was  hard  put  to  it  when  he  wrote  this. 
Come  along,  my  dear  fellow,  for  it's  an  urgent  call." 

In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or  so  we  were  back  at  the  physi- 
cian's house.  He  came  running  out  to  meet  us  with  a  face 
of  horror. 

"  Oh,  such  a  business !"  he  cried,  with  his  hands  to  his 
temples. 

"  What  then  ?" 

"  Blessington  has  committed  suicide  !" 

Holmes  whistled. 

"Yes,  he  hanged  himself  during  the  night." 

We  had  entered,  and  the  doctor  had  preceded  us  into  what 
was  evidently  his  waiting-room. 

"  I  really  hardly  know  what  I  am  doing,"  he  cried.  "  The 
police  are  aheady  upstairs.  It  has  shaken  me  most  dread- 
fully." 

"  When  did  you  find  it  out  ?" 

"  He  has  a  cup  of  tea  taken  in  to  him  early  every  morning. 
When  the  maid  entered,  about  seven,  there  the  unfortunate 
fellow  was  hanging  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  He  had  tied 
his  cord  to  the  hook  on  which  the  heavy  lamp  used  to  hang, 
and  he  had  jumped  off  from  the  top  of  the  very  box  that  he 
showed  us  yesterday." 

Holmes  stood  for  a  moment  in  deep  thought. 

"With  your  permission,"  said  he  at  last,  "I  should  like  t« 
go  upstairs  and  look  into  the  matter." 

We  both  ascended,  followed  by  the  doctor. 

It  was  a  dreadful  sight  which  met  us  as  we  entered  the 
bedroom  door.  I  have  spoken  of  the  impression  of  flabbi- 


THE   RESIDENT   PATIENT  173 

ness  which  this  man  Blessington  conveyed.  As  he  dangled 
from  the  hook  it  was  exaggerated  and  intensified  until  he  was 
scarce  human  in  his  appearance.  The  neck  was  drawn  out 
like  a  plucked  chicken's,  making  the  rest  of  him  seem  the  more 
obese  and  unnatural  by  the  contrast.  He  was  clad  only  in 
his  long  night-dress,  and  his  swollen  ankles  and  ungainly  feet 
protruded  starkly  from  beneath  it.  Beside  him  stood  a  smart- 
looking  police-inspector,  who  was  taking  notes  in  a  pocket- 
book. 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he,  heartily,  as  my  friend  entered, 
"  I  am  delighted  to  see  you." 

"  Good-morning,  Lanner,"  answered  Holmes  ;  "  you  won't 
think  me  an  intruder,  I  am  sure.  Have  you  heard  of  the 
events  which  led  up  to  this  affair  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  heard  something  of  them." 

"  Have  you  formed  any  opinion  ?" 

"  As  far  as  I  can  see,  the  man  has  been  driven  out  of  his 
senses  by  fright.  The  bed  has  been  well  slept  in,  you  see. 
There's  his  impression,  deep  enough.  It's  about  five  in  the 
morning,  you  know,  that  suicides  are  most  common.  That 
would  be  about  his  time  for  hanging  himself.  It  seems  to 
have  been  a  very  deliberate  affair." 

"  I  should  say  that  he  has  been  dead  about  three  hours, 
judging  by  the  rigidity  of  the  muscles,"  said  I. 

"  Noticed  anything  peculiar  about  the  room  ?"  asked 
Holmes. 

"  Found  a  screw-driver  and  some  screws  on  the  wash-hand 
stand.  Seems  to  have  smoked  heavily  during  the  night,  too. 
Here  are  four  cigar-ends  that  I  picked  out  of  the  fireplace." 

"  Hum  !"  said  Holmes,  "  have  you  got  his  cigar-holder  ?" 

"  No,  I  have  seen  none." 

"  His  cigar-case,  then  ?" 

"  Yes,  it  was  in  his  coat-pocket" 

Holmes  opened  it  and  smelled  the  single  cigar  which  it 
contained. 

"  Oh,  this  is  an  Havana,  and  these_others  are  cigars  of  th0 


174  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

peculiar  sort  which  are  imported  by  the  Dutch  from  their 
East  Indian  colonies.  They  are  usually  wrapped  in  straw, 
you  know,  and  are  thinner  for  their  length  than  any  other 
brand."  He  picked  up  the  four  ends  and  examined  them 
with  his  pocket-lens. 

"  Two  of  these  have  been  smoked  from  a  holder  and  two 
without,"  said  he.  "  Two  have  been  cut  by  a  not  very  sharp 
knife,  and  two  have  had  the  ends  bitten  off  by  a  set  of  ex- 
cellent teeth.  This  is  no  suicide,  Mr.  Lanner.  It  is  a  very 
deeply  planned  and  cold-blooded  murder." 

"  Impossible  !"  cried  the  inspector. 

"  And  why  ?" 

"Why  should  any  one  murder  a  man  in  so  clumsy  a 
fashion  as  by  hanging  him  ?" 

"  That  is  what  we  have  to  find  out." 

"  How  could  they  get  in  ?" 

"Through  the  front  door." 

"  It  was  barred  in  the  morning." 

"  Then  it  was  barred  after  them." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?" 

"  I  saw  their  traces.  Excuse  me  a  moment,  and  I  may  be 
able  to  give  you  some  further  information  about  it." 

He  went  over  to  the  door,  and  turning  the  lock  he  ex- 
amined it  in  his  methodical  way.  Then  he  took  out  the 
key,  which  was  on  the  inside,  and  inspected  that  also.  The 
bed,  the  carpet,  the  chairs,  the  mantelpiece,  the  dead  body, 
and  the  rope  were  each  in  turn  examined,  until  at  last  he 
professed  himself  satisfied,  and  with  my  aid  and  that  of  the 
inspector  cut  down  the  wretched  object  and  laid  it  rever- 
ently under  a  sheet. 

"  How  about  this  rope  ?"  he  asked. 

"  It  is  cut  off  this,"  said  Dr.  Trevelyan,  drawing  a  large 
coil  from  under  the  bed.  "  He  was  morbidly  nervou^  of 
fire,  and  always  kept  this  beside  him,  so  that  he  might  ;s- 
cape  by  the  window  in  case  the  stairs  were  burning." 

"  That    must    have   saved    them    trouble,"   said    Holmes, 


THE    RESIDENT    PATIENT  175 

thoughtfully.  "  Yes,  the  actual  facts  are  very  plain,  and  I 
shall  be  surprised  if  by  the  afternoon  I  cannot  give  you  the 
reasons  for  them  as  well.  I  will  take  this  photograph  of 
Blessington,  which  I  see  upon  the  mantelpiece,  as  it  may 
help  me  in  my  inquiries." 

"  But  you  have  told  us  nothing !"  cried  the  doctor. 

"  Oh,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  sequence  of  events," 
said  Holmes.  "There  were  three  of  them  in  it:  the  young 
man,  the  old  man,  and  a  third,  to  whose  identity  I  have  no 
clue.  The  first  two,  I  need  hardly  remark,  are  the  same  who 
masqueraded  as  the  Russian  count  and  his  son,  so  we  can 
give  a  very  full  description  of  them.  They  were  admitted 
by  a  confederate  inside  the  house.  If  I  might  offer  you  a 
word  of  advice,  Inspector,  it  would  be  to  arrest  the  page, 
who,  as  I  understand,  has  only  recently  come  into  your  ser- 
vice, Doctor." 

"  The  young  imp  cannot  be  found,"  said  Dr.  Trevelyan  ; 
"  the  maid  and  the  cook  have  just  been  searching  for  him." 

Holmes  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  He  has  played  a  not  unimportant  part  in  this  drama," 
said  he.  "The  three  men  having  ascended  the  stairs,  which 
they  did  on  tiptoe,  the  elder  man  first,  the  younger  man  sec- 
ond, and  the  unknown  man  in  the  rear — " 

"  My  dear  Holmes  !"  I  ejaculated. 

"  Oh,  there  could  be  no  question  as  to  the  superimposing 
of  the  footmarks.  I  had  the  advantage  of  learning  which 
was  which  last  night.  They  ascended,  then,  to  Mr.  Blessing- 
ton's  room,  the  door  of  which  they  found  to  be  locked.  With 
the  help  of  a  wire,  however,  they  forced  round  the  key.  Even 
without  the  lens  you  will  perceive,  by  the  scratches  on  this 
ward,  where  the  pressure  was  applied. 

"On  entering  the  room  their  first  proceeding  must  have 
been  to  gag  Mr.  Blessington.  He  may  have  been  asleep, 
or  he  may  have  been  so  paralyzed  with  terror  as  to  have  been 
unable  to  cry  out.  These  walls  are  thick,  and  it  is  conceiva- 
ble that  his  shriek,  if  he  had  time  to  utter  one,  was  unheard 


176  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  Having  secured  him,  it  is  evident  to  me  that  a  consulta- 
tion of  some  sort  was  held.  Probably  it  was  something  in 
the  nature  of  a  judicial  proceeding.  It  must  have  lasted  for 
some  time,  for  it  was  then  that  these  cigars  were  smoked. 
The  older  man  sat  in  that  wicker  chair ;  it  was  he  who  used 
the  cigar-holder.  The  younger  man  sat  over  yonder;  he 
knocked  his  ash  off  against  the  chest  of  drawers.  The  third 
fellow  paced  up  and  down..  Blessington,  I  think,  sat  upright 
in  the  bed,  but  of  that  I  cannot  be  absolutely  certain. 

"  Well,  it  ended  by  their  taking  Blessington  and  hanging 
him.  The  matter  was  so  prearranged  that  it  is  my  belief 
that  they  brought  with  them  some  sort  of  block  or  pulley 
which  might  serve  as  a  gallows.  That  screw-driver  and  those 
screws  were,  as  I  conceive,  for  fixing  it  up.  Seeing  the 
hook,  however,  they  naturally  saved  themselves  the  trouble. 
Having  finished  their  work  they  made  off,  and  the  door  was 
barred  behind  them  by  their  confederate." 

We  had  all  listened  with  the  deepest  interest  to  this  sketch 
of  the  night's  doings,  which  Holmes  had  deduced  from  signs 
so  subtle  and  minute  that,  even  when  he  had  pointed  them 
out  to  us,  we  could  scarcely  follow  him  in  his  reasonings. 
The  inspector  hurried  away  on  the  instant  to  make  inquiries 
about  the  page,  while  Holmes  and  I  returned  to  Baker  Street 
for  breakfast. 

"  I'll  be  back  by  three,"  said  he,  when  we  had  finished  our 
meal.  "  Both  the  inspector  and  the  doctor  will  meet  me 
here  at  that  hour,  and  I  hope  by  that  time  to  have  cleared 
up  any  little  obscurity  which  the  case  may  still  present." 

Our  visitors  arrived  at  the  appointed  time,  but  it  was  a 
quarter  to  four  before  my  friend  put  in  an  appearance.  From 
his  expression  as  he  entered,  however,  I  could  see  that  all 
had  gone  well  with  him. 

"  Any  news,  Inspector  ?" 

"  We  have  got  the  boy,  sir." 

"  Excellent  and  I  have  got  the  men." 


THE    RESIDENT    PATIENT  ifj 

"You  have  got  them!"  we  cried,  all  three. 

"  Well,  at  least  I  have  got  their  identity.  This  so-called 
Blessington  is,  as  I  expected,  well  known  at  headquarters, 
and  so  are  his  assailants.  Their  names  are  Biddle,  Hayvrard, 
and  Moffat." 

"  The  Worthingdon  bank  gang,"  cried  the  inspector. 

"  Precisely,"  said  Holmes. 

"  Then  Blessington  must  have  been  Sutton." 

"  Exactly,"  said  Holmes. 

"Why,  that  makes  it  as  clear  as  crystal,"  said  the  in- 
spector. 

But  Trevelyan  and  I  looked  at  each  other  in  bewilderment. 

"  You  must  surely  remember  the  great  Worthingdon  bank 
business,"  said  Holmes.  "  Five  men  were  in  it — these  four 
and  a  fifth  called  Cartwright.  Tobin,  the  care-taker,  was  mur- 
dered, and  the  thieves  got  away  with  seven  thousand  pounds. 
This  was  in  1875.  They  were  all  five  arrested,  but  the  evi- 
dence against  them  was  by  no  means  conclusive.  This  Bless- 
ington or  Sutton,  who  was  the  worst  of  the  gang,  turned 
informer.  On  his  evidence  Cartwright  was  hanged  and  the 
other  three  got  fifteen  years  apiece.  When  they  got  out  the 
other  day.  which  was  some  years  before  their  full  term,  they 
set  themselves,  as  you  perceive,  to  hunt  down  the  traitor  and 
to  avenge  the  death  of  their  comrade  upon  him.  Twice  they 
tried  to  get  at  him  and  failed ;  a  third  time,  you  see,  it  came 
off.  Is  there  anything  further  which  I  can  explain,  Dr.  Tre- 
velyan ?" 

"I  think  you  have  made  it  all  remarkably  clear,"  said 
the  doctor.  "  No  doubt  the  day  on  which  he  was  so  per- 
turbed was  the  day  when  he  had  seen  of  their  release  in 
the  newspapers." 

"  Quite  so.  His  talk  about  a  burglary  was  the  merest 
blind." 

"  But  why  could  he  not  tell  vou  this  ?M 

"Well,  my  dear  sir,  knowing  the  vindictive  character  of. 
his  old  associates,  he  was  trying  to  hide  his  own  identity  from 


178  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

everybody  as  long  as  he  could.  His  secret  was  a  shameful 
one,  and  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  divulge  it.  However, 
wretch  as  he  was,  he  was  still  living  under  the  shield  of 
British  law,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  Inspector,  that  you  will 
see  that,  though  that  shield  may  fail  to  guard,  the  sword  of 
justice  is  still  there  to  avenge." 

Such  were  the  singular  circumstances  in  connection  with 
the  Resident  Patient  and  the  Brook  Street  Doctor.  From 
that  night  nothing  has  been  seen  of  the  three  murderers  by 
the  police,  and  it  is  surmised  at  Scotland  Yard  that  they  were 
among  the  passengers  of  the  ill-fated  steamer  Norah  Creina, 
which  was  lost  some  years  ago  with  all  hands  upon  the  Por- 
tuguese coast,  some  leagues  to  the  north  of  Oporto.  The 
proceedings  against  the  page  broke  down  for  want  of  evi- 
dence, and  the  Brook  Street  Mystery,  as  it  was  called,  has 
never  until  now  been  fully  dealt  with  in  any  public  print 


THE   GREEK  INTERPRETER 

MIRING  my  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes  I  had  never  heard  him 
refer  to  his  relations,  and  hardly  ever  to  his  own 
early  life.  This  reticence  upon  his  part  had  in- 
creased the  somewhat  inhuman  effect  which  he 
produced  upon  me,  until  sometimes  I  found  myself  regarding 
him  as  an  isolated  phenomenon,  a  brain  without  a  heart,  as 
deficient  in  human  sympathy  as  he  was  pre-eminent  in  intel- 
ligence. His  aversion  to  women  and  his  disinclination  to 
form  new  friendships  were  both  typical  of  his  unemotional 
character,  but  not  more  so  than  his  complete  suppression  of 
every  reference  to  his  own  people.  I  had  come  to  believe 
that  he  was  an  orphan  with  no  relatives  living;  but  one  day, 
to  my  very  great  surprise,  he  began  to  talk  to  me  about  his 
brother. 

It  was  after  tea  on  a  summer  evening,  and  the  conversa- 
tion, which  had  roamed  in  a  desultory,  spasmodic  fashion 
from  goif  clubs  to  the  causes  of  the  change  in  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecliptic,  came  round  at  last  to  the  question  of  atavism 
and  hereditary  aptitudes.  The  point  under  discussion  was, 
how  far  any  singular  gift  in  an  individual  was  due  to  his  an- 
cestry and  how  far  to  his  own  early  training. 

"In  your  own  case,"  said  I,  "from  all  that  you  have  told 
me,  it  seems  obvious  that  your  faculty  of  observation  and 
your  peculiar  facility  for  deduction  are  due  to  your  own  sys- 
tematic training." 

"To  some  extent,"  he  ar-.^v./.-.-^d,  thoughtfully.     "My  an« 


I  So  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

cestors  were  country  squires,  who  appear  to  have  led  much 
the  same  life  as  is  natural  to  their  class.  But,  none  the  less, 
my  turn  that  way  is  in  my  veins,  and  may  have  come  with 
my  grandmother,  who  was  the  sister  of  Vernet,  the  French 
artist.  Art  in  the  blood  is  liable  to  take  the  strangest  forms." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  that  it  is  hereditary  ?" 

"  Because  my  brother  Mycroft  possesses  it  in  a  larger  de- 
gree than  I  do." 

This  was  news  to  me  indeed.  If  there  were  another  man 
with  such  singular  powers  in  England,  how  was  it  that  nei- 
ther police  nor  public  had  heard  of  him  ?  I  put  the  ques- 
tion, with  a  hint  that  it  was  my  companion's  modesty  which 
made  him  acknowledge  his  brother  as  his  superior.  Holmes 
laughed  at  my  suggestion. 

"  My  dear  Watson,"  said  he,  "  I  cannot  agree  with  those 
who  rank  modesty  among  the  virtues.  To  the  logician  all 
things  should  be  seen  exactly  as  they  are,  and  to  underesti- 
mate one's  self  is  as  much  a  departure  from  truth  as  to  exag- 
gerate one's  own  powers.  When  I  say,  therefore,  that  My- 
croft has  better  powers  of  observation  than  I,  you  may  take 
it  that  I  am  speaking  the  exact  and  literal  truth." 

"  Is  he  your  junior  ?" 

"  Seven  years  my  senior." 

"  How  comes  it  that  he  is  unknown  ?" 

"  Oh,  he  is  very  well  known  in  his  own  circle." 

"  Where,  then  ?" 

"  Well,  in  the  Diogenes  Club,  for  example." 

I  had  never  heard  of  the  institution,  and  my  face  must  have 
proclaimed  as  much,  for  Sherlock  Holmes  pulled  out  his  watch. 

"The  Diogenes  Club  is  the  queerest  club  in  London,  and 
Mycroft  one  of  the  queerest  men.  He's  always  there  from 
quarter  to  five  to  twenty  to  eight.  It's  six  now,  so  if  you  care 
for  a  stroll  this  beautiful  evening  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  in- 
troduce you  to  two  curiosities." 

Five  minutes  later  we  were  in  the  street,  walking  towards 
Regent's  Circus. 


THE    GREEK    INTERPRETER  l8l; 

"You  wonder,"  said  my  companion,  "why  it  is  that  My- 
croft  does  not  use  his  powers  for  detective  work.  He  is 
incapable  of  it." 

"  But  I  thought  you  said — " 

"  I  said  that  he  was  my  superior  in  observation  and  deduc- 
tion. If  the  art  of  the  detective  began  and  ended  in  reason- 
ing from  an  arm-chair,  my  brother  would  be  the  greatest  crim- 
inal agent  that  ever  lived.  But  he  has  no  ambition  and  no 
energy.  He  will  not  even  go  out  of  his  way  to  verify  his  own 
solutions,  and  would  rather  be  considered  wrong  than  take 
the  trouble  to  prove  himself  right.  Again  and  again  I  have 
taken  a  problem  to  him,  and  have  received  an  explanation 
which  has  afterwards  proved  to  be  the  correct  one.  And  yet 
he  was  absolutely  incapable  of  working  out  the  practical 
points  which  must  be  gone  into  before  a  case  could  be  laid 
before  a  judge  or  jury." 

"  It  is  not  his  profession,  then  ?" 

"  By  no  means.  What  is  to  me  a  means  of  livelihood  is  to 
him  the  merest  hobby  of  a  dilettante.  He  has  an  extraordi- 
nary faculty  for  figures,  and  audits  the  books  in  some  of  the 
government  departments.  Mycroft  lodges  in  Pall  Mall,  and 
he  walks  round  the  corner  into  Whitehall  every  morning  and 
back  every  evening.  From  year's  end  to  year's  end  he  takes 
no  other  exercise,  and  is  seen  nowhere  else,  except  only  in  the 
Diogenes  Club,  which  is  just  opposite  his  rooms." 

"  I  cannot  recall  the  name." 

"Very  likely  not.  There  are  many  men  in  London,  you 
know,  who,  some  from  shyness,  some  from  misanthropy,  have 
no  wish  for  the  company  of  their  fellows.  Yet  they  are  not 
averse  to  comfortable  chairs  and  the  latest  periodicals.  It 
is  for  the  convenience  of  these  that  the  Diogenes  Club  was 
started,  and  it  now  contains  the  most  unsociable  and  unclub- 
able  men  in  town.  No  member  is  permitted  to  take  the  least 
notice  of  any  other  one.  Save  in  the  Stranger's  Room,  no  talk- 
ing is,  under  any  circumstances,  allowed,  and  three  offences, 
if  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  committee,  render  the  talker 


182  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

liable  to  expulsion.  My  brother  was  one  of  the  founders,  and 
I  have  myself  found  it  a  very  soothing  atmosphere." 

We  had  reached  Pall  Mall  as  we  talked,  and  were  walking 
down  it  from  the  St.  James's  end.  Sherlock  Holmes  stopped 
at  a  door  some  little  distance  from  the  Carlton,  and,  caution- 
ing me  not  to  speak,  he  led  the  way  into  the  hall.  Through 
the  glass  panelling  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  large  and  luxuri- 
ous room,  in  which  a  considerable  number  of  men  were  sit- 
ting about  and  reading  papers,  each  in  his  own  little  nook. 
Holmes  showed  me  into  a  small  chamber  which  looked  out 
into  Pall  Mall,  and  then,  leaving  me  for  a  minute,  he  came 
back  with  a  companion  whom  I  knew  could  only  be  his 
brother. 

Mycroft  Holmes  was  a  much  larger  and  stouter  man  than 
Sherlock.  His  body  was  absolutely  corpulent,  but  his  face, 
though  massive,  had  preserved  something  of  the  sharpness  of 
expression  which  was  so  remarkable  in  that  of  his  brother. 
His  eyes,  which  were  of  a  peculiarly  light,  watery  gray,  seemed 
to  always  retain  that  far-away,  introspective  look  which  I  had 
only  observed  in  Sherlock's  when  he  was  exerting  his  full 
powers. 

"  I  am  glad  to  meet  you,  sir,"  said  he,  putting  out  a  broad, 
fat  hand  like  the  flipper  of  a  seal.  "  I  hear  of  Sherlock 
everywhere  since  you  became  his  chronicler.  By  the  way, 
Sherlock,  I  expected  to  see  you  round  last  week,  to  consult 
me  over  that  Manor  House  case.  I  thought  you  might  be  a 
nttle  out  of  your  depth." 

"No,  I  solved  it,"  said  my  friend,  smiling. 

"  It  was  Adams,  of  course." 

"Yes,  it  was  Adams." 

"  I  was  sure  of  it  from  the  first."  The  two  sat  down  to- 
gether in  the  bow-window  of  the  club.  "To  any  one  who 
wishes  to  study  mankind  this  is  the  spot,"  said  Mycroft. 
"  Look  at  the  magnificent  types !  Look  at  these  two  men 
who  are  coming  towards  us,  for  example." 

"The  billiard-marker  and  the  other?" 


THE   GREEK    INTERPRETER  183 

"  Precisely.     What  do  you  make  of  the  other  ?" 

The  two  men  had  stopped  opposite  the  window.  Some 
chalk  marks  over  the  waistcoat  pocket  were  the  only  signs 
of  billiards  which  I  could  see  in  one  of  them.  The  other 
was  a  very  small,  dark  fellow,  with  his  hat  pushed  back  and 
several  packages  under  his  arm. 

"  An  old  soldier,  I  perceive,"  said  Sherlock. 

"And  very  recently  discharged,"  remarked  the  brother. 

"  Served  in  India,  I  see." 

"  And  a  non-commissioned  officer." 

"  Royal  Artillery,  I  fancy,"  said  Sherlock. 

<l  And  a  widower." 

"  But  with  a  child." 

"  Children,  my  dear  boy,  children." 

"Come,"  said  I,  laughing,  "this  is  a  little  too  much." 

"  Surely,"  answered  Holmes,  "it  is  not  hard  to  say  that  a 
man  with  that  bearing,  expression  of  authority,  and  sunbaked 
skin,  is  a  soldier,  is  more  than  a  private,  and  is  not  long 
from  India." 

"  That  he  has  not  left  the  service  long  is  shown  by  his 
still  wearing  his  ammunition  boots,  as  they  are  called,"  ob- 
served Mycroft. 

"He  had  not  the  cavalry  stride,  yet  he  wore  his  hat  on 
one  side,  as  is  shown  by  the  lighter  skin  on  that  side  of  his 
brow.  His  weight  is  against  his  being  a  sapper.  He  is  in 
the  artillery." 

"  Then,  of  course,  his  complete  mourning  shows  that  he  has 
lost  some  one  very  dear.  The  fact  that  he  is  doing  his  own 
shopping  looks  as  though  it  were  his  wife.  He  has  been 
buying  things  for  children,  you  perceive.  There  is  a  rattle, 
which  shows  that  one  of  them  is  very  young.  The  wife 
probably  died  in  childbed.  The  fact  that  he  has  a  picture- 
book  under  his  arm  shows  that  there  is  another  child  to  be 
thought  of  " 

I  began  to  understand  what  my  friend  meant  when  he 
said  that  his  brother  possessed  even  keener  faculties  thaw 


184  MEMOIRS  OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

he  did  himse'f.  He  glanced  across  at  me  and  smiled.  My- 
croft  took  snuff  from  a  tortoise-shell  box,  and  brushed  away 
the  wandering  grains  from  his  coat  front  with  a  large,  red 
silk  handkerchief. 

"  By  the  way,  Sherlock,"  said  he,  "  I  have  had  something 
quite  after  your  own  heart — a  most  singular  problem — sub- 
mitted to  my  judgment  I  really  had  not  the  energy  to  fol- 
low it  up  save  in  a  very  incomplete  fashion,  but  it  gave  me  a 
basis  for  some  pleasing  speculations.  If  you  would  care  to 
hear  the  facts — " 

"  My  dear  Mycroft,  I  should  be  delighted." 

The  brother  scribbled  a  note  upon  a  leaf  of  his  pocket- 
book,  and,  ringing  the  bell,  he  handed  it  to  the  waiter. 

"I  have  asked  Mr.  Melas  to  step  across,"  said  he.  "He 
lodges  on  the  floor  above  me,  and  I  have  some  slight  ac- 
quaintance with  him,  which  led  him  to  come  to  me  in  his 
perplexity.  Mr  Melas  is  a  Greek  by  extraction,  as  I  under- 
stand, and  he  is  a  remarkable  linguist.  He  earns  his  living 
partly  as  interpreter  in  the  law  courts  and  partly  by  acting  as 
guide  to  any  wealthy  Orientals  who  may  visit  the  Northum- 
berland Avenue  hotels.  I  think  I  will  leave  him  to  tell  his 
very  remarkable  experience  in  his  own  fashion." 

A  few  minutes  later  we  were  joined  by  a  short,  stout  man 
whose  olive  face  and  coal  black  hair  proclaimed  his  Southern 
origin,  though  his  speech  was  that  of  an  educated  English- 
man. He  shook  hands  eagerly  with  Sherlock  Holmes,  and 
his  dark  eyes  sparkled  with  pleasure  when  he  understood 
that  the  specialist  was  anxious  to  hear  his  story. 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  the  police  credit  me — on  my  word, 
I  do  not,"  said  he  in  a  wailing  voice.  "  Just  because  they 
have  never  heard  of  it  before,  they  think  that  such  a  thing 
cannot  be.  But  I  know  that  I  shall  never  be  easy  in  my 
mind  until  I  know  what  has  become  of  my  poor  man  with 
the  sticking-plaster  upon  his  face." 

"  I  am  all  attention,"  said  Sherlock  Holmes. 

"  This  is  Wednesday  evening,"  said  Mr.  Melas.     "  WeU 


THE   GREEK    INTERPRETER  185 

then,  it  was  Monday  night  —  only  two  days  ago,  you  under- 
stand —  that  all  this  happened.  I  am  an  interpreter,  as  per- 
haps my  neighbor  there  has  told  you.  I  interpret  all  lan- 
guages—  or  nearly  all — but  as  I  am  a  Greek  by  birth  and 
with  a  Grecian  name,  it  is  with  that  particular  tongue  that  I 
am  principally  associated.  For  many  years  I  have  been  the 
chief  Greek  interpreter  in  London,  and  my  name  is  very  well 
known  in  the  hotels. 

"  It  happens  not  unfrequently  that  I  am  sent  for  at  strange 
hours  by  foreigners  who  get  into  difficulties,  or  by  travellers 
who  arrive  late  and  wish  my  services.  I  was  not  surprised, 
therefore,  on  Monday  night  when  a  Mr.  Latimer,  a  very  fash- 
ionably dressed  young  man,  came  up  to  my  rooms  and  asked 
me  to  accompany  him  in  a  cab  which  was  waiting  at  the 
door.  A  Greek  friend  had  come  to  see  him  upon  business, 
he  said,  and  as  he  could  speak  nothing  but  his  own  tongue, 
the  services  of  an  interpreter  were  indispensable.  He  gave 
me  to  understand  that  his  house  was  some  little  distance  off, 
in  Kensington,  and  he  seemed  to  be  in  a  great  hurry,  bus- 
tling me  rapidly  into  the  cab  when  we  had  descended  to  the 
street. 

"I  say  into  the  cab,  but  I  soon  became  doubtful  as  to 
whether  it  was  not  a  carriage  in  which  I  found  myself.  It 
was  certainly  more  roomy  than  the  ordinary  four-wheeled 
disgrace  to  London,  and  the  fittings,  though  frayed,  were  of 
rich  quality.  Mr.  Latimer  seated  himself  opposite  to  me  and 
we  started  off  through  Charing  Cross  and  up  the  Shaftesbury 
Avenue.  We  had  come  out  upon  Oxford  Street  and  I  had 
ventured  some  remark  as  to  this  being  a  roundabout  way  to 
Kensington,  when  my  words  were  arrested  by  the  extraordi- 
nary conduct  of  my  companion. 

"  He  began  by  drawing  a  most  formidable-lookiag  blud- 
geon loaded  with  lead  from  his  pocket,  and  switching  it 
backward  and  forward  several  times,  as  if  to  test  its  weight 
and  strength.  Then  he  placed  it  without  a  word  upon  the 
s«at  beside  him.  Having  done  this,  he  drew  up  the  windows 


l86  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

on  each  side,  and  I  found  to  my  astonishment  that  they 
•were  covered  with  paper  so  as  to  prevent  my  seeing  through 
them. 

" '  I  am  sorry  to  cut  off  your  view,  Mr.  Melas,'  said  he. 
'The  fact  is  that  I  have  no  intention  that  you  should  see 
what  the  place  is  to  which  we  are  driving.  It  might  possi- 
bly be  inconvenient  to  me  if  you  could  find  your  way  there 
again.' 

"  As  you  can  imagine,  I  was  utterly  taken  aback  by  such 
an  address.  My  companion  was  a  powerful,  broad-shouldered 
young  fellow,  and,  apart  from  the  weapon,  I  should  not  have 
had  the  slightest  chance  in  a  struggle  with  him. 

" '  This  is  very  extraordinary  conduct,  Mr.  Latimer,'  I 
stammered.  'You  must  be  aware  that  what  you  are  doing 
is  quite  illegal.' 

"  '  It  is  somewhat  of  a  liberty,  no  doubt,'  said  he,  '  but  we'll 
make  it  up  to  you.  I  must  warn  you,  however,  Mr.  Melas, 
that  if  at  any  time  to-night  you  attempt  to  raise  an  alarm 
or  do  anything  which  is  against  my  interests,  you  will  find 
it  a  very  serious  thing.  I  beg  you  to  remember  that  no 
one  knows  where  you  are,  and  that,  whether  you  are  in  this 
carriage  or  in  my  house,  you  are  equally  in  my  power.' 

"  His  words  were  quiet,  but  he  had  a  rasping  way  of  saying 
them  which  was  very  menacing.  I  sat  in  silence  wondering 
what  on  earth  could  be  his  reason  for  kidnapping  me  in  this 
extraordinary  fashion.  Whatever  it  might  be,  it  was  perfectly 
clear  that  there  was  no  possible  use  in  my  resisting,  and  that 
I  could  only  wait  to  see  what  might  befall, 

"  For  nearly  two  hours  we  drove  without  my  having  the 
least  clue  as  to  where  we  were  going.  Sometimes  the  rattle 
of  the  stones  told  of  a  paved  causeway,  and  at  others  our 
smooth,  silent  course  suggested  asphalt ;  but,  save  by  this 
variation  in  sound,  there  was  nothing  at  all  which  could  in 
the  remotest  way  help  me  to  form  a  guess  as  to  where  we 
were.  The  paper  over  each  window  was  impenetrable  to 
light,  and  a  blue  curtain  was  drawn  across  the  glass  work  in 


THE   GREEK    INTERPRETER  jg? 

front.  It  was  a  quarter-past  seven  when  we  left  Pall  Mall, 
and  my  watch  showed  me  that  it  was  ten  minutes  to  nine 
when  we  at  last  came  to  a  standstill.  My  companion  let 
down  the  window,  and  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  low,  arched 
doorway  with  a  lamp  burning  above  it.  As  I  was  hurried 
from  the  carriage  it  swung  open,  and  I  found  myself  inside 
the  house,  with  a  vague  impression  of  a  lawn  and  trees  on 
each  side  of  me  as  I  entered.  Whether  these  were  private 
grounds,  however,  or  bona-fide  country  was  more  than  I  could 
possibly  venture  to  say. 

"There  was  a  colored  gas-lamp  inside  which  was  turned 
so  low  that  I  could  see  little  save  that  the  hall  was  of  some 
size  and  hung  with  pictures.  In  the  dim  light  I  could  make 
out  that  the  person  who  had  opened  the  door  was  a  small, 
mean-looking,  middle-aged  man  with  rounded  shoulders.  As 
he  turned  towards  us  the  glint  of  the  light  showed  me  that 
he  was  wearing  glasses. 

"  '  Is  this  Mr.  Melas,  Harold  ?'  said  he. 

" '  Yes.' 

"  'Well  done,  well  done!  No  ill  will,  Mr.  Melas,  I  hope, 
but  we  could  not  get  on  without  you.  If  you  deal  fair  with 
us  you'll  not  regret  it,  but  if  you  try  any  tricks,  God  help 
)ou !'  He  spoke  in  a  nervous,  jerky  fashion,  and  with  little 
giggling  laughs  in  between,  but  somehow  he  impressed  me 
with  fear  more  than  the  other. 

"  '  What  do  you  want  with  me  ?'  I  asked. 

"  '  Only  to  ask  a  few  questions  of  a  Greek  gentleman  who 
is  visiting  us,  and  to  let  us  have  the  answers.  But  say  no 
more  than  you  are  told  to  say,  or — '  here  came  the  nervous 
giggle  again — '  you  had  better  never  have  been  born.' 

"  As  he  spoke  he  opened  a  door  and  showed  the  way  into 
a  room  which  appeared  to  be  very  richly  furnished,  but  again 
the  only  light  was  afforded  by  a  single  lamp  half-turned 
down.  The  chamber  was  certainly  large,  and  the  way  in 
which  my  feet  sank  into  the  carpet  as  I  stepped  across  it 
told  me  of  its  richness.  I  caught  glimpses  of  velvet  chairs,  a 


l88  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

high  white  marble  mantelpiece,  and  what  seemed  to  be  a  suit 
of  Japanese  armor  at  one  side  of  it.  There  was  a  chair  just 
under  the  lamp,  and  the  elderly  man  motioned  that  I  should 
sit  in  it.  The  younger  had  left  us,  but  he  suddenly  returned 
through  another  door,  leading  with  him  a  gentleman  clad  in 
some  sort  of  loose  dressing-gown  who  moved  slowly  towards 
us.  As  he  came  into  the  circle  of  dim  light  which  enabled 
me  to  see  him  more  clearly  I  was  thrilled  with  horror  at  his 
appearance.  He  was  deadly  pale  and  terribly  emaciated, 
with  the  protruding,  brilliant  eyes  of  a  man  whose  spirit  was 
greater  than  his  strength.  But  what  shocked  me  more  than 
any  signs  of  physical  weakness  was  that  his  face  was  gro- 
tesquely criss-crossed  with  sticking-plaster,  and  that  one  large 
pad  of  it  was  fastened  over  his  mouth. 

" '  Have  you  the  slate,  Harold  ?'  cried  the  older  man,  as 
this  strange  being  fell  rather  than  sat  down  into  a  chair. 
'  Are  his  hands  loose  ?  Now,  then,  give  him  the  pencil.  You 
are  to  ask  the  questions,  Mr.  Melas,  and  he  will  write  the  an- 
swers. Ask  him  first  of  all  whether  he  is  prepared  to  sign  the 
papers  ?' 

"  The  man's  eyes  flashed  fire. 

" '  Never !'  he  wrote  in  Greek  upon  the  slate. 

" '  On  no  conditions  ?'  I  asked,  at  the  bidding  of  our  tyrant. 

" '  Only  if  I  see  her  married  in  my  presence  by  a  Greek 
priest  whom  I  know.' 

"  The  man  giggled  in  his  venomous  way. 

" '  You  know  what  awaits  you,  then  ?' 

" '  I  care  nothing  for  myself.' 

"These  are  samples  of  the  questions  and  answers  which 
made  up  our  strange  half-spoken,  half-written  conversation. 
Again  and  again  I  had  to  ask  him  whether  he  would  give  in 
and  sign  the  documents.  Again  and  again  I  had  the  same 
indignant  reply.  But  soon  a  happy  thought  came  to  me.  I 
took  to  adding  on  little  sentences  of  my  own  to  each  ques- 
tion, innocent  ones  at  first,  to  test  whether  either  of  our  com- 
panions knew  anything  of  the  matter,  and  then,  as  I  found 


THE    GREEK    INTERPRETER  l8^ 

that  they  showed  no  sign  I  played  a  more  dangerous  game, 
OUT  conversation  ran  something  like  this: 

"  '  You  can  do  no  good  by  this  obstinacy.      Who  are  you  T 

"  '  I  care  not.     /  am  a  stranger  in  London? 

" '  Your  fate  will  be  on  your  own  head.  How  long  have  yon 
been  here  T 

" '  Let  it  be  so.     Three  weeks' 

"  '  The  property  can  never  be  yours.      What  ails  you  T 

" '  It  shall  not  go  to  villains.     They  are  starving  me? 

" ( You  shall  go  free  if  you  sign.      What  house  is  this  T 

" '  I  will  never  sign.      /  do  not  know? 

" '  You  are  not  doing  her  any  service.    What  is  your  nanuf 

" '  Let  me  hear  her  say  so.     Kratides.11 

" '  You  shall  see  her  if  you  sign.      Where  are  you  from  T 

"  '  Then  I  shall  never  see  her.    Athens? 

"  Another  five  minutes,  Mr.  Holmes,  and  I  should  have 
wormed  out  the  whole  story  under  their  very  noses.  My  very 
next  question  might  have  cleared  the  matter  up,  but  at  that 
instant  the  door  opened  and  a  woman  stepped  into  the  room. 
I  could  not  see  her  clearly  enough  to  know  more  than  that 
she  was  tall  and  graceful,  with  black  hair,  and  clad  in  some 
sort  of  loose  white  gown. 

" '  Harold,'  said  she,  speaking  English  with  a  broken  ac- 
cept. '  I  could  not  stay  away  longer.  It  is  so  lonely  up  there 
with  only —  Oh,  my  God,  it  is  Paul !' 

"  These  last  words  were  in  Greek,  and  at  the  same  instant 
the  man  with  a  convulsive  effort  tore  the  plaster  from  his  lips, 
and  screaming  out  '  Sophy  i  Sophy !'  rushed  into  the  woman's 
arms.  Their  embrace  was  but  for  an  instant,  however,  for 
the  younger  man  seized  the  woman  and  pushed  her  out  of  the 
room,  while  the  elder  easily  overpowered  his  emaciated  vic- 
tim, and  dragged  him  away  through  the  other  door.  For  a 
moment  I  was  left  alone  in  the  room,  and  I  sprang  to  my  feet 
with  some  vague  idea  that  I  might  in  some  way  get  a  clue  to 
what  this  house  was  in  which  I  found  myself.  Fortunately, 
however,  I  took  no  steps,  for  looking  up  I  saw  that  the  older 


19*  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMftS 

man  was  standing  in  the  door-way,  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon 
me. 

"  'That  will  do,  Mr.  Melas,'  said  he.  '  You  perceive  that  we 
have  taken  you  into  our  confidence  over  some  very  private 
business.  We  should  not  have  troubled  you,  only  that  our 
friend  who  speaks  Greek  and  who  began  these  negotiations 
has  been  forced  to  return  to  the  East.  It  was  quite  necessary 
for  us  to  find  some  one  to  take  his  place,  and  we  were  fort- 
unate in  hearing  of  your  powers.' 

"  I  bowed. 

" '  There  are  five  sovereigns  here,'  said  he,  walking  up  to 
me,  '  which  will,  I  hope,  be  a  sufficient  fee.  But  remember,' 
he  added,  tapping  me  lightly  on  the  chest  and  giggling,  'if 
you  speak  to  a  human  soul  about  this — one  human  soul, 
mind — well,  may  God  have  mercy  upon  your  soul !' 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  the  loathing  and  horror  with  which 
this  insignificant-looking  man  inspired  me.  I  could  see  him 
better  now  as  the  lamp-light  shone  upon  him.  His  features 
were  peaky  and  sallow,  and  his  little  pointed  beard  was 
thready  and  ill-nourished.  He  pushed  his  face  forward  as  he 
spoke  and  his  lips  and  eyelids  were  continually  twitching  like 
a  man  with  St.  Vitus's  dance.  I  could  not  help  thinking  that 
his  strange,  catchy  little  laugh  was  also  a  symptom  of  some 
nervous  malady.  The  terror  of  his  face  lay  in  his  eyes,  how- 
ever, steel  gray,  and  glistening  coldly  with  a  malignant,  inex- 
orable cruelty  in  their  depths. 

"  '  We  shall  know  if  you  speak  of  this,'  said  he.  '  We  have 
our  own  means  of  information.  Now  you  will  find  the  car- 
riage waiting,  and  my  friend  will  see  you  on  your  way.' 

"  I  was  hurried  through  the  hall  and  into  the  vehicle,  again 
obtaining  that  momentary  glimpse  of  trees  and  a  garden. 
Mr.  Latimer  followed  closely  at  my  heels,  and  took  his  place 
opposite  to  me  without  a  word.  In  silence  we  again  drove 
for  an  interminable  distance  with  the  windows  raised,  until  at 
last,  just  after  midnight,  the  carriage  pulled  up. 

*  'You  will  get  down  here,  Mr.  Melas,'  said  my  companion. 


THE   GREEK   INTERPRETER  IQI 

1 1  am  sorry  to  leave  you  so  far  from  your  house,  but  there  is 
no  alternative.  Any  attempt  upon  your  part  to  follow  the  car- 
riage can  only  end  in  injury  to  yourself.' 

"  He  opened  the  door  as  he  spoke,  and  I  had  hardly  time 
to  spring  out  when  the  coachman  lashed  the  horse  and  the 
carriage  rattled  away.  I  looked  around  me  in  astonishment. 
I  was  on  some  sort  of  a  heathy  common  mottled  over  with 
dark  clumps  of  furze-bushes.  Far  away  stretched  a  line  of 
houses,  with  a  light  here  and  there  in  the  upper  windows.  On 
the  other  side  I  saw  the  red  signal-lamps  of  a  railway. 

"  The  carriage  which  had  brought  me  was  already  out  of 
sight.  I  stood  gazing  round  and  wondering  where  on  earth 
I  might  be,  when  I  saw  some  one  coming  towards  me  in  the 
darkness.  As  he  came  up  to  me  I  made  out  that  he  was  a 
railway  porter. 

"  '  Can  you  tell  me  what  place  this  is  ?'  I  asked. 

"  '  Wandsworth  Common,'  said  he. 

" '  Can  I  get  a  train  into  town  ?' 

"  '  If  you  walk  on  a  mile  or  so  to  Clapham  Junction/  said 
he,  '  you'll  just  be  in  time  for  the  last  to  Victoria.' 

"  So  that  was  the  end  of  my  adventure,  Mr.  Holmes.  I  do 
not  know  where  I  was,  nor  whom  I  spoke  with,  nor  anything 
save  what  I  have  told  you.  But  I  know  that  there  is  foul 
play  going  on,  and  I  want  to  help  that  unhappy  man  if  I  can. 
I  told  the  whole  story  to  Mr.  Mycroft  Holmes  next  moraing, 
and  subsequently  to  the  police." 

We  all  sat  in  silence  for  some  little  time  after  listening  to 
this  extraordinary  narrative.  Then  Sherlock  looked  across 
at  his  brother. 

"  Any  steps  ?"  he  asked. 

Mycroft  picked  up  the  Daily  News,  which  was  lying  on  the 
side-table. 

" '  Anybody  supplying  any  information  as  to  the  where- 
abouts of  a  Greek  gentleman  named  Paul  Kratides,  from 
Athens,  who  is  unable  to  speak  English,  will  be  rewarded. 
A  similar  reward  paid  to  any  one  giving  information  about 


192  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

a  Greek  lady  whose  first  name  is  Sophy.     X  2473.'     That 
was  in  all  the  dailies.     No  answer." 

"  How  about  the  Greek  Legation  ?" 

"  I  have  inquired.     They  know  nothing." 

"  A  wire  to  the  head  of  the  Athens  police,  then  ?" 

"  Sherlock  has  all  the  energy  of  the  family,"  said  Mycroft, 
turning  to  me.  "  Well,  you  take  the  case  up  by  all  means, 
and  let  me  know  if  you  do  any  good." 

"  Certainly,"  answered  my  friend,  rising  from  his  chair. 
"  I'll  let  you  know,  and  Mr.  Melas  also.  In  the  meantime, 
Mr.  Melas,  I  should  certainly  be  on  my  guard,  if  I  were  you, 
for  of  course  they  must  know  through  these  advertisements 
that  you  have  betrayed  them." 

As  we  walked  home  together,  Holmes  stopped  at  a  tele- 
graph office  and  sent  off  several  wires. 

"You  see,  Watson,"  he  remarked,  "our  evening  has  been 
by  no  means  wasted.  Some  of  my  most  interesting  cases 
hare  come  to  me  in  this  way  through  Mycroft.  The  problem 
which  we  have  just  listened  to,  although  it  can  admit  of  but 
one  explanation,  has  still  some  distinguishing  features." 

"  You  have  hopes  of  solving  it  ?" 

"  Well,  knowing  as  much  as  we  do,  it  will  be  singular  in- 
deed if  we  fail  to  discover  the  rest.  You  must  yourself  have 
formed  some  theory  which  will  explain  the  facts  to  which  we 
have  listened." 

"  In  a  vague  way,  yes." 

"  What  was  your  idea,  then  ?" 

"  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  obvious  that  this  Greek  girl  had 
been  carried  off  by  the  young  Englishman  named  Harold 
Latimer." 

"  Carried  off  from  where  ?" 

"  Athens,  perhaps." 

Sherlock  Holmes  shook  his  head.  "  This  young  man  could 
not  talk  a  word  of  Greek.  The  lady  could  talk  English  fairly 
well.  Inference — that  she  had  been  in  England  some  little 
time,  but  he  had  not  been  in  Greece." 


THE   GREEK    INTERPRETER  1^3 

"  Well,  then,  we  will  presume  that  she  had  come  on  a  visit 
to  England,  and  that  this  Harold  had  persuaded  her  to  fly 
with  him." 

"  That  is  more  probable." 

"  Then  the  brother — for  that,  I  fancy,  must  be  the  relation- 
ship— comes  over  from  Greece  to  interfere.  He  imprudently 
puts  himself  into  the  power  of  the  young  man  and  his  older 
associate.  They  seize  him  and  use  violence  towards  him  in 
order  to  make  him  sign  some  papers  to  make  over  the  girl's 
fortune — of  which  he  may  be  trustee — to  them.  This  he  re- 
fuses to  do.  In  order  to  negotiate  with  him  they  have  to  get 
an  interpreter,  and  they  pitch  upon  this  Mr.  Melas,  having 
used  some  other  one  before.  The  girl  is  not  told  of  the 
arrival  of  her  brother,  and  finds  it  out  by  the  merest  acci- 
dent." 

"  Excellent,  Watson !"  cried  Holmes.  "  I  really  fancy  that 
you  are  not  far  from  the  truth.  You  see  that  we  hold  all  the 
cards,  and  we  have  only  to  fear  some  sudden  act  of  violence 
on  their  part.  If  they  give  us  time  we  must  have  them." 

"  But  how  can  we  find  where  this  house  lies  ?" 

"  Well,  if  our  conjecture  is  correct  and  the  girl's  name  is  or 
was  Sophy  Kratides,  we  should  have  no  difficulty  in  tracing 
her.  That  must  be  our  main  hope,  for  the  brother  is,  of 
course,  a  complete  stranger.  It  is  clear  that  some  time  has 
elapsed  since  this  Harold  established  these  relations  with 
the  girl  —  some  weeks,  at  any  rate  —  since  the  brother  in 
Greece  has  had  time  to  hear  of  it  and  come  across.  If  they 
have  been  living  in  the  same  place  during  this  time,  it  is  prob- 
able that  we  shall  have  some  answer  to  Mycroft's  advertise- 
ment." 

We  had  reached  our  house  in  Baker  Street  while  we  had 
been  talking.  Holmes  ascended  the  stair  first,  and  as  he 
opened  the  door  of  our  room  he  gave  a  start  of  surprise. 
Looking  over  his  shoulder,  I  was  equally  astonished.  His 
brother  Mycroft  was  sitting  smoking  in  the  arm-chair. 

"  Comr   in,  Sherlock !     Come,  in,  sir,"  said  he,  blandly, 


194  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

smiling  at  our  surprised  faces.  "You  don't  expect  such  en- 
ergy from  me,  do  you,  Sherlock  ?  But  somehow  this  case  at- 
tracts me." 

"  How  did  you  get  here  ?" 

"  I  passed  you  in  a  hansom." 

"  There  has  been  some  new  development  ?" 

"  I  had  an  answer  to  my  advertisement." 

"  Ah !" 

"  Yes,  it  came  within  a  few  minutes  of  your  leaving.'1 

"  And  to  what  effect  ?" 

Mycroft  Holmes  took  out  a  sheet  of  paper. 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  he,  "  written  with  a  J  pen  on  royal  cream 
paper  by  a  middle-aged  man  with  a  weak  constitution.  '  Sir,' 
he  says,  '  in  answer  to  your  advertisement  of  to-day's  date,  I 
beg  to  inform  you  that  I  know  the  young  lady  in  question 
very  well.  If  you  should  care  to  call  upon  me  I  could  give 
you  some  particulars  as  to  her  painful  history.  She  is  living 
at  present  at  The  Myrtles,  Beckenham.  Yours  faithfully, 
J.  Davenport.' 

"  He  writes  from  Lower  Brixton,"  said  Mycroft  Holmes. 
"  Do  you  not  think  that  we  might  drive  to  him  now,  Sherlock, 
and  learn  these  particulars  ?" 

"  My  dear  Mycroft,  the  brother's  life  is  more  valuable  than 
the  sister's  story.  I  think  we  should  call  at  Scotland  Yard 
for  Inspector  Gregson,  and  go  straight  out  to  Beckenham. 
We  know  that  a  man  is  being  done  to  death,  and  every  hour 
may  be  vital." 

"  Better  pick  up  Mr.  Melas  on  our  way,"  I  suggested.  "  We 
may  need  an  interpreter." 

"  Excellent,"  said  Sherlock  Holmes.  "  Send  the  boy  for  a 
four-wheeler,  and  we  shall  be  off  at  once."  He  opened  the 
table-drawer  as  he  spoke,  and  I  noticed  that  he  slipped  his 
revolver  into  his  pocket.  "Yes,"  said  he,  in  answer  to  my 
glance ;  "  I  should  say,  from  what  we  have  heard,  that  we  are 
dealing  with  a  particularly  dangerous  gang." 

It  was  almost  dark  before  we  found  ourselves  in  Pall  Mall, 


THE    GREEK    INTERPRETER  IQ5 

at  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Melas.  A  gentleman  had  just  called  for 
him,  and  he  was  gone. 

"  Can  you  tell  me  where  ?"  asked  Mycroft  Holmes. 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,"  answered  the  woman  who  had  opened 
the  door ;  "  I  only  know  that  he  drove  away  with  the  gentle- 
man in  a  carriage." 

"  Did  the  gentleman  give  a  name  ?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  He  wasn't  a  tall,  handsome,  dark  young  man  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  sir.  He  was  a  little  gentleman,  with  glasses,  thin 
in  the  face,  but  very  pleasant  in  his  ways,  for  he  was  laughing 
all  the  time  that  he  was  talking." 

"Come  along!"  cried  Sherlock  Holmes,  abruptly.  "This 
grows  serious,"  he  observed,  as  we  drove  to  Scotland  Yard. 
"  These  men  have  got  hold  of  Melas  again.  He  is  a  man  of 
no  physical  courage,  as  they  are  well  aware  from  their  expe- 
rience the  other  night.  This  villain  was  able  to  terrorize  him 
the  instant  that  he  got  into  his  presence.  No  doubt  they 
want  his  professional  services,  but,  having  used  him,  they 
may  be  inclined  to  punish  him  for  what  they  will  regard  as 
his  treachery." 

Our  hope  was  that,  by  taking  train,  we  might  get  to  Beck- 
enham  as  soon  as  or  sooner  than  the  carriage.  On  reaching 
Scotland  Yard,  however,  it  was  more  than  an  hour  before  we 
could  get  Inspector  Gregson  and  comply  with  the  legal  for- 
malities which  would  enable  us  to  enter  the  house.  It  was  a 
quarter  to  ten  before  we  reached  London  Bridge,  and  half 
past  before  the  four  of  us  alighted  on  the  Beckenham  plat- 
form. A  drive  of  half  a  mile  brought  us  to  The  Myrtles — a 
large,  dark  house  standing  back  from  the  road  in  its  own 
grounds.  Here  we  dismissed  our  cab,  and  made  our  way  up 
the  drive  together. 

"The  windows  are  all  dark,"  remarked  the  inspector 
"The  house  seems  deserted." 

"  Our  birds  are  flown  and  the  nest  empty,"  said  Holmes. 

"  Why  do  you  say  so  ?" 


If  6  MEMOIRS   OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  A  carriage  heavily  loaded  with  luggage  has  passed  out 
during  the  last  hour.'' 

The  inspector  laughed.  "  I  saw  the  wheel-tracks  in  the 
light  of  the  gate-lamp,  but  where  does  the  luggage  come  in  ?" 

"  You  may  have  observed  the  same  wheel-tracks  going  the 
other  way.  But  the  outward-bound  ones  were  very  much 
deeper  —  so  much  so  that  we  can  say  for  a  certainty  that 
there  was  a  very  considerable  weight  on  the  carriage." 

"  You  get  a  trifle  beyond  me  there,"  said  the  inspector, 
shrugging  his  shoulders.  "  It  will  not  be  an  easy  door  to 
force,  but  we  will  try  if  we  cannot  make  some  one  hear  us." 

He  hammered  loudly  at  the  knocker  and  pulled  at  the  bell, 
but  without  any  success.  Holmes  had  slipped  away,  but  he 
came  back  in  a  few  minutes. 

"  I  have  a  window  open,"  said  he. 

"  It  is  a  mercy  that  you  are  on  the  side  of  the  force,  and 
not  against  it,  Mr.  Holmes,"  remarked  the  inspector,  as  he 
noted  the  clever  way  in  which  my  friend  had  forced  back 
the  catch.  "  Well,  I  think  that  under  the  circumstances  we 
may  enter  without  an  invitation." 

One  after  the  other  we  made  our  way  into  a  large  apart- 
ment, which  was  evidently  that  in  which  Mr.  Melas  had  found 
himself.  The  inspector  had  lit  his  lantern,  and  by  its  light 
we  could  see  the  two  doors,  the  curtain,  the  lamp,  and  the 
suit  of  Japanese  mail  as  he  had  described  them.  On  the 
table  lay  two  glasses,  an  empty  brandy-bottle,  and  the  re- 
mains of  a  meal. 

"  What  is  that  ?"  asked  Holmes,  suddenly. 

We  all  stood  still  and  listened.  A  low  moaning  sound 
was  coming  from  somewhere  over  our  heads.  Holmes  rushed 
to  the  door  and  out  into  the  hall.  The  dismal  noise  came 
from  upstairs.  He  dashed  up,  the  inspector  and  I  at  his 
heels,  while  his  brother  Mycroft  followed  as  quickly  as  his 
great  bulk  would  permit. 

Three  doors  faced  us  upon  the  second  floor,  and  it  was 
from  the  central  of  these  that  the  sinister  sounds  were  issu- 


THE   GREEK    INTERPRETER  197 

mg,  sinking  sometimes  into  a  dull  mumble  and  rising  again 
into  a  shrill  whine.  It  was  locked,  but  the  key  had  been 
left  on  the  outside.  Holmes  flung  open  the  door  and  rushed 
in,  but  he  was  out  again  in  an  instant,  with  his  hand  to  his 
throat. 

"  It's  charcoal,"  he  cried.     "  Give  it  time.     It  will  clear." 

Peering  in,  we  could  see  that  the  only  light  in  the  room 
came  from  a  dull  blue  flame  which  flickered  from  a  small 
brass  tripod  in  the  centre.  It  threw  a  livid,  unnatural  circle 
upon  the  floor,  while  in  the  shadows  beyond  we  saw  the 
vague  loom  of  two  figures  which  crouched  against  the  wall. 
From  the  open  door  there  reeked  a  horrible  poisonous  ex- 
halation which  set  us  gasping  and  coughing.  Holmes  rushed 
to  the  top  of  the  stairs  to  draw  in  the  fresh  air,  and  then, 
dashing  into  the  room,  he  threw  up  the  window  and  hurled 
the  brazen  tripod  out  into  the  garden. 

"  We  can  enter  in  a  minute,"  he  gasped,  darting  out  again. 
"  Where  is  a  candle  ?  I  doubt  if  we  could  strike  a  match  in 
that  atmosphere.  Hold  the  light  at  the  door  and  we  shall 
get  them  out,  Mycroft,  now !" 

With  a  rush  we  got  to  the  poisoned  men  and  dragged  them 
out  into  the  well-lit  hall.  Both  of  them  were  blue-lipped  and 
insensible,  with  swollen,  congested  faces  and  protruding  eyes. 
Indeed,  so  distorted  were  their  features  that,  save  for  his 
black  beard  and  stout  figure,  we  might  have  failed  to  recog- 
nize in  one  of  them  the  Greek  interpreter  who  had  parted 
from  us  only  a  few  hours  before  at  the  Diogenes  Club.  His 
hands  and  feet  were  securely  strapped  together,  and  he  bore 
over  one  eye  the  marks  of  a  violent  blow.  The  other,  who 
was  secured  in  a  similar  fashion,  was  a  tall  man  in  the  last 
stage  of  emaciation,  with  several  strips  of  sticking-plaster  ar- 
ranged in  a  grotesque  pattern  over  his  face.  He  had  ceased 
to  moan  as  we  laid  him  down,  and  a  glance  showed  me  that 
for  him  at  least  our  aid  had  come  too  late.  Mr.  Melas,  how- 
ever, still  lived,  and  in  less  than  an  hour,  with  the  aid  of  am- 
monia and  brandy,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  open 


198  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

his  eyes,  and  of  knowing  that  my  hand  had  diiwn  him  back 
from  that  dark  valley  in  which  all  paths  meet. 

It  was  a  simple  story  which  he  had  to  tell,  and  one  which 
did  but  confirm  our  own  deductions.  His  visitor,  on  enter- 
ing his  rooms,  had  drawn  a  life-preserver  from  his  sleeve, 
and  had  so  impressed  him  with  the  fear  of  instant  and  inevi- 
table death  that  he  had  kidnapped  him  for  the  second  time. 
Indeed,  it  was  almost  mesmeric,  the  effect  which  this  gig- 
gling ruffian  had  produced  upon  the  unfortunate  linguist, 
for  he  could  not  speak  of  him  save  with  trembling  hands 
and  a  blanched  cheek.  He  had  been  taken  swiftly  to  Beck- 
enham,  and  had  acted  as  interpreter  in  a  second  interview, 
even  more  dramatic  than  the  first,  in  which  the  two  English- 
men had  menaced  their  prisoner  with  instant  death  if  he  did 
not  comply  with  their  demands.  Finally,  finding  him  proof 
against  every  threat,  they  had  hurled  him  back  into  his  prison, 
and  after  reproaching  Melas  with  his  treachery,  which  ap- 
peared from  the  newspaper  advertisement,  they  had  stunned 
him  with  a  blow  from  a  stick,  and  he  remembered  nothing 
more  until  he  found  us  bending  over  him. 

And  this  was  the  singular  case  of  the  Grecian  Interpreter, 
the  explanation  of  which  is  still  involved  in  some  mystery. 
We  were  able  to  find  out,  by  communicating  with  the  gentle- 
man who  had  answered  the  advertisement,  that  the  unfortu- 
nate young  lady  came  of  a  wealthy  Grecian  family,  and  that 
she  had  been  on  a  visit  to  some  friends  in  England.  While 
there  she  had  met  a  young  man  named  Harold  Latimer,  who 
had  acquired  an  ascendency  over  her  and  had  eventually 
persuaded  her  to  fly  with  him.  Her  friends,  shocked  at  the 
event,  had  contented  themselves  with  informing  her  brother 
at  Athens,  and  had  then  washed  their  hands  of  the  matter. 
The  brother,  on  his  arrival  in  England,  had  imprudently 
placed  himself  in  the  power  of  Latimer  and  of  his  asso- 
ciate, whose  name  was  Wilson  Kemp — a  man  of  the  foulest 
antecedents.  These  two.  finding  that  through  his  ignorance 
of  the  language  he  was  helpless  in  their  hands,  had  kept  him 


THE    GREEK    INTERPRETER  199 

a  prisoner,  and  had  endeavored  by  cruelty  and  starvation  to 
make  him  sign  away  his  own  and  his  sister's  property.  They 
had  kept  him  in  the  house  without  the  girl's  knowledge,  and 
the  plaster  over  the  face  had  been  for  the  purpose  of  making 
recognition  difficult  in  case  she  should  ever  catch  a  glimpse 
of  him.  Her  feminine  perceptions,  however,  had  instantly 
seen  through  the  disguise  when,  on  the  occasion  of  the  in- 
terpreter's visit,  she  had  seen  him  for  the  first  time.  The 
poor  girl,  however,  was  herself  a  prisoner,  for  there  was  no 
one  about  the  house  except  the  man  who  acted  as  coach- 
man, and  his  wife,  both  of  whom  were  tools  of  the  conspira- 
tors. Finding  that  their  secret  was  out,  and  that  their  pris- 
oner was  not  to  be  coerced,  the  two  villains  with  the  girl  had 
fled  away  at  a  few  hours'  notice  from  the  furnished  house 
which  they  had  hired,  having  first,  as  they  thought,  taken 
vengeance  both  upon  the  man  who  had  defied  and  the  one 
who  had  betrayed  them. 

Months  afterwards  a  curious  newspaper  cutting  reached 
us  from  Buda-Pesth.  It  told  how  two  Englishmen  who  had 
been  travelling  with  a  woman  had  met  with  a  tragic  end. 
They  had  each  been  stabbed,  it  seems,  and  the  Hungarian 
police  were  of  opinion  that  they  had  quarrelled  and  had 
inflicted  mortal  injuries  upon  each  other.  Holmes,  however, 
is,  I  fancy,  of  a  different  way  of  thinking,  and  he  holds  to 
this  day  that,  if  one  could  find  the  Grecian  girl,  one  might 
learn  how  the  wrongs  of  herself  and  her  brother  came  to 
be  avenged. 


adventure 

THE     NAVAL    TRFATY 

|  HE  July  which  immediately  succeeded  my  mar- 
riage was  made  memorable  by  three  cases  of  in- 
terest, in  which  I  had  the  privilege  of  being  as- 
sociated with  Sherlock  Holmes  and  of  studying 
his  methods.  I  find  them  recorded  in  my  notes 
under  the  headings  of  "  The  Adventure  of  the  Second  Stain," 
"  The  Adventure  of  the  Naval  Treaty,"  and  "  The  Adventure 
of  the  Tired  Captain."  The  first  of  these,  however,  deals 
with  interests  of  such  importance  and  implicates  so  many  of 
the  first  families  in  the  kingdom  that  for  many  years  it  will 
be  impossible  to  make  it  public.  No  case,  however,  in  which 
Holmes  was  engaged  has  ever  illustrated  the  value  of  his  ana- 
lytical methods  so  clearly  or  has  impressed  those  who  were 
associated  with  him  so  deeply.  I  still  retain  an  almost  ver- 
batim report  of  the  interview  in  which  he  demonstrated  the 
true  facts  of  the  case  to  Monsieur  Dubugue  of  the  Paris 
police,  and  Fritz  von  Waldbaum.  the  well-known  specialist  of 
Dantzig,  both  of  whom  had  wasted  their  energies  uoon  what 
proved  to  be  side-issues.  The  new  century  will  have  come, 
however,  before  the  story  can  be  safely  told.  Meanwhile  I 
pass  on  to  the  second  on  my  list,  which  promised  also  at  one 
time  to  be  of  national  importance,  and  was  marked  by  sev- 
eral incidents  which  give  it  a  quite  unique  character. 

During  my  school -days  I  had  been  intimately  associated 
with  a  lad  named  Percy  Phelps,  who  was  of  much  the  same 
age  as  myself,  though  he  was  two  classes  ahead  of  me.  He 
was  a  very  brilliant  boy,  and  carried  away  every  prize  which 


THE    NAVAL   TREATY  2O1 

the  school  had  to  offer,  finishing  his  exploits  by  winning  a 
scholarship  which  sent  him  on  to  continue  his  triumphant 
career  at  Cambridge.  He  was,  I  remember,  extremely  well 
connected,  and  even  when  we  were  all  little  boys  together  we 
knew  that  his  mother's  brother  was  Lord  Holdhurst,  the 
great  conservative  politician.  This  gaudy  relationship  did 
him  little  good  at  school.  On  the  contrary,  it  seemed  rather 
a  piquant  thing  to  us  to  chevy  him  about  the  playground  and 
hit  him  over  the  shins  with  a  wicket.  But  it  was  another 
thing  when  he  came  out  into  the  world.  I  heard  vaguely  that 
his  abilities  and  the  influences  which  he  commanded  had  won 
him  a  good  position  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  then  he  passed 
completely  out  of  my  mind  until  the  following  letter  recalled 
his  existence: 

"  Briarbrae,  Woking. 

"  MY  DEAR  WATSON, — I  have  no  doubt  that  you  can  re- 
member '  Tadpole '  Phelps,  who  was  in  the  fifth  form  when 
you  were  in  the  third.  It  is  possible  even  that  you  may  have 
heard  that  through  my  uncle's  influence  I  obtained  a  good 
appointment  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  that  I  was  in  a  situa- 
tion of  trust  and  honor  until  a  horrible  misfortune  came  sud- 
denly to  blast  my  career. 

"  There  is  no  use  writing  the  details  of  that  dreadful  event. 
In  the  event  of  your  acceding  to  my  request  it  is  probable 
that  I  shall  have  to  narrate  them  to  you.  I  have  only  just 
recovered  from  nine  weeks  of  brain-fever,  and  am  still  exceed- 
ingly weak.  Do  you  think  that  you  could  bring  your  friend 
Mr.  Holmes  down  to  see  me  ?  I  should  like  to  have  his  opin- 
ion of  the  case,  though  the  authorities  assure  me  that  nothing 
more  can  be  done.  Do  try  to  bring  him  down,  and  as  soon 
as  possible.  Every  minute  seems  an  hour  while  I  live  in  this 
state  of  horrible  suspense.  Assure  him  that  if  I  have  not 
asked  his  advice  sooner  it  was  not  because  I  did  not  appre- 
ciate his  talents,  but  because  I  have  been  off  my  head  ever 
the  blow  fell.  Now  I  am  clear  again,  though  I  dare  not 


202  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

think  of  it  too  much  for  fear  of  a  relapse.  I  am  still  so  weak 
that  I  have  to  write,  as  you  see,  by  dictating.  Do  try  to  bring 
him.  Your  old  school-fellow, 

"  PERCY  PHELPS." 

There  was  something  that  touched  me  as  I  read  this  letter, 
something  pitiable  in  the  reiterated  appeals  to  bring  Holmes. 
So  moved  was  I  that  even  had  it  been  a  difficult  matter  I 
should  have  tried  it,  but  of  course  I  knew  well  that  Holmes 
loved  his  art,  so  that  he  was  ever  as  ready  to  bring  his  aid  as 
his  client  could  be  to  receive  it.  My  wife  agreed  with  me 
that  not  a  moment  should  be  lost  in  laying  the  matter  before 
him,  and  so  within  an  hour  of  breakfast-time  I  found  myself 
back  once  more  in  the  old  rooms  in  Baker  Street. 

Holmes  was  seated  at  his  side-table  clad  in  his  dressing- 
gown,  and  working  hard  over  a  chemical  investigation.  A 
large  curved  retort  was  boiling  furiously  in  the  bluish  flame 
of  a  Bunsen  burner,  and  the  distilled  drops  were  condensing 
into  a  two-litre  measure.  My  friend  hardly  glanced  up  as  I 
entered,  and  I,  seeing  that  his  investigation  must  be  of  impor- 
tance, seated  myself  in  an  arm-chair  and  waited.  He  dipped 
into  this  bottle  or  that,  drawing  out  a  few  drops  of  each  with 
his  glass  pipette,  and  finally  brought  a  test-tube  containing  a 
solution  over  to  the  table.  In  his  right  hand  he  held  a  slip 
of  litmus-paper. 

"You  come  at  a  crisis,  Watson,"  said  he.  "If  this  paper 
remains  blue,  all  is  well.  If  it  turns  red,  it  means  a  man's 
life."  He  dipped  it  into  the  test-tube  and  it  flushed  at  once 
into  a  dull,  dirty  crimson.  "  Hum  !  I  thought  as  much !"  he 
cried.  "  I  will  be  at  your  service  in  an  instant,  Watson.  You 
will  find  tobacco  in  the  Persian  slipper."  He  turned  to  his 
desk  and  scribbled  off  several  telegrams,  which  were  handed 
over  to  the  page-boy.  Then  he  threw  himself  down  into  the 
chair  opposite,  and  drew  up  his  knees  until  his  fingers  clasped 
round  his  long,  thin  shins. 

"A  very  commonplace  little  murder,"  said  he.     "You'v* 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  2 03 

got  something  better,  I  fancy.  You  are  the  stormy  petrel  of 
crime,  Watson.  What  is  it?" 

I  handed  him  the  letter,  which  he  read  with  the  most  con- 
centrated attention. 

"  It  does  not  tell  us  very  much,  does  it  ?"  he  remarked,  as 
he  handed  it  back  to  me. 

"  Hardly  anything." 

"  And  yet  the  writing  is  of  interest." 

"  But  the  writing  is  not  his  own." 

"  Precisely.     It  is  a  woman's." 

"  A  man's  surely,"  I  cried. 

"  No,  a  woman's,  and  a  woman  of  rare  character.  You  see, 
at  the  commencement  of  an  investigation  it  is  something  to 
know  that  your  client  is  in  close  contact  with  some  one  who, 
for  good  or  evil,  has  an  exceptional  nature.  My  interest  is 
already  awakened  in  the  case.  If  you  are  ready  we  will  start 
at  once  for  Woking,  and  see  this  diplomatist  who  is  in  such 
evil  case,  and  the  lady  to  whom  he  dictates  his  letters." 

We  were  fortunate  enough  to  catch  an  early  train  at  Water- 
loo, and  in  a  little  under  an  hour  we  found  ourselves  among 
the  fir-woods  and  the  heather  of  Woking.  Briarbrae  proved 
to  be  a  large  detached  house  standing  in  extensive  grounds 
within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  station.  On  sending  in  our 
cards  we  were  shown  into  an  elegantly  appointed  drawing- 
room,  where  we  were  joined  in  a  few  minutes  by  a  rather 
stout  man  who  received  us  with  much  hospitality.  His  age 
may  have  been  nearer  forty  than  thirty,  but  his  cheeks  were 
so  ruddy  and  his  eyes  so  merry  that  he  still  conveyed  the  im- 
pression of  a  plump  and  mischievous  boy. 

"  I  am  so  glad  that  you  have  come,"  said  he,  shaking  our 
hands  with  effusion.  "  Percy  has  been  inquiring  for  you  all 
morning.  Ah,  poor  old  chap,  he  clings  to  any  straw !  His 
father  and  his  mother  asked  me  to  see  you,  for  the  mere  men- 
tion of  the  subject  is  very  painful  to  them." 

"  We  have  had  no  details  yet,"  observed  Holmes.  "  I  per- 
ceive that  you  are  not  yourself  a  member  of  the  family." 


204  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

Our  acquaintance  looked  surprised,  and  then,  glancing 
down,  he  began  to  laugh. 

"Of  course  you  saw  the  J  H  monogram  on  my  locket," 
said  he.  "  For  a  moment  I  thought  you  had  done  something 
clever.  Joseph  Harrison  is  my  name,  and  as  Percy  is  to  mar- 
ry my  sister  Annie  I  shall  at  least  be  a  relation  by  marriage. 
You  will  find  my  sister  in  his  room,  for  she  has  nursed  him 
hand-and-foot  this  two  months  back.  Perhaps  we'd  better  go 
in  at  once,  for  I  know  how  impatient  he  is." 

The  chamber  in  which  we  were  shown  was  on  the  same 
floor  as  the  drawing-room.  It  was  furnished  partly  as  a  sit- 
ting and  partly  as  a  bedroom,  with  flowers  arranged  daintily 
in  every  nook  and  corner.  A  young  man,  very  pale  and  worn, 
was  lying  upon  a  sofa  near  the  open  window,  through  which 
came  the  rich  scent  of  the  garden  and  the  balmy  summer  air. 
A  woman  was  sitting  beside  him,  who  rose  as  we  entered. 

"  Shall  I  leave,  Percy  ?"  she  asked. 

He  clutched  her  hand  to  detain  her.  "  How  are  you,  Wat- 
son ?"  said  he,  cordially.  "  I  should  never  have  known  you 
tinder  that  moustache,  and  I  dare  say  you  would  not  be  pre- 
pared to  swear  to  me.  This  I  presume  is  your  celebrated 
friend,  Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes  ?" 

I  introduced  him  in  a  few  words,  and  we  both  sat  down. 
The  stout  young  man  had  left  us,  but  his  sister  still  remained 
•with  her  hand  in  that  of  the  invalid.  She  was  a  striking- 
looking  woman,  a  little  short  and  thick  for  symmetry,  but  with 
a  beautiful  olive  complexion,  large,  dark,  Italian  eyes,  and  a 
wealth  of  deep  black  hair.  Her  rich  tints  made  the  white  face 
of  her  companion  the  more  worn  and  haggard  by  the  contrast. 

"  I  won't  waste  your  time,"  said  he,  raising  himself  upon 
the  sofa.  "I'll  plunge  into  the  matter  without  further  pre- 
amble. I  was  a  happy  and  successful  man,  Mr.  Holmes,  and 
on  the  eve  of  being  married,  when  a  sudden  and  dreadful 
misfortune  wrecked  all  my  prospects  in  life. 

"  I  was,  as  Watson  may  have  told  you,  in  the  Foreign  Office, 
and  through  the  influence  of  my  uncle,  Lord  Holdhurst,  I 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  205 

rose  rapidly  to  a  responsible  position.  When  my  uncle  be- 
came foreign  minister  in  this  administration  he  gave  me  sev- 
eral missions  of  trust,  and  as  I  always  brought  them  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion,  he  came  at  last  to  have  the  utmost  confi- 
dence in  my  ability  and  tact. 

"  Nearly  ten  weeks  ago — to  be  more  accurate,  on  the  23d 
of  May — he  called  me  into  his  private  room,  and,  after  compli- 
menting me  on  the  good  work  which  I  had  done,  he  informed 
me  that  he  had  a  new  commission  of  trust  for  me  to  execute. 

" '  This,'  said  he,  taking  a  gray  roll  of  paper  from  his  bu- 
reau, 'is  the  original  of  that  secret  treaty  between  England 
and  Italy  of  which,  I  regret  to  say,  some  rumors  have  already 
got  into  the  public  press.  It  is  of  enormous  importance  that 
nothing  further  should  leak  out.  The  French  or  the  Russian 
embassy  would  pay  an  immense  sum  to  learn  the  contents  of 
these  papers.  They  should  not  leave  my  bureau  were  it  not 
that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  them  copied.  You 
have  a  desk  in  your  office  ?' 

" '  Yes,  sir.' 

"  '  Then  take  the  treaty  and  lock  it  up  there.  I  shall  give 
directions  that  you  may  remain  behind  when  the  others  go, 
so  that  you  may  copy  it  at  your  leisure  without  fear  of  being 
overlooked.  When  you  have  finished,  relock  both  the  orig- 
inal and  the  draft  in  the  desk,  and  hand  them  over  to  me  per- 
sonally to-morrow  morning.' 

"  I  took  the  papers  and — " 

"  Excuse  me  an  instant,"  said  Holmes.  "  Were  you  alone 
during  this  conversation  ?" 

"  Absolutely." 

"  In  a  large  room  ?" 

"  Thirty  feet  each  way." 

"  In  the  centre  ?" 

0  Yes,  about  it." 

"  And  speaking  low  ?" 

"  My  uncle's  voice  is  always  remarkably  low.  I  hardly 
spoke  at  all." 


2 Ob  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"Thank  you,"  said  Holmes,  shutting  his  eyes;  "pray 
go  on." 

"  I  did  exactly  what  he  indicated,  and  waited  until  the  oth- 
er clerks  had  departed.  One  of  them  in  my  room,  Charles 
Gorot,  had  some  arrears  of  work  to  make  up,  so  I  left  him 
there  and  went  out  to  dine.  When  I  returned  he  was  gone. 
I  was  anxious  to  hurry  my  work,  for  I  knew  that  Joseph — 
the  Mr.  Harrison  whom  you  saw  just  now — was  in  town, 
and  that  he  would  travel  down  to  Woking  by  the  eleven- 
o'clock  train,  and  I  wanted  if  possible  to  catch  it. 

"  When  I  came  to  examine  the  treaty  I  saw  at  once  that  it 
was  of  such  importance  that  my  uncle  had  been  guilty  of  no 
exaggeration  in  what  he  had  said.  Without  going  into  de- 
tails, I  may  say  that  it  defined  the  position  of  Great  Britain 
towards  the  Triple  Alliance,  and  foreshadowed  the  policy 
which  this  country  would  pursue  in  the  event  of  the  French 
fleet  gaining  a  complete  ascendency  over  that  of  Italy  in  the 
Mediterranean.  The  questions  treated  in  it  were  purely  na- 
val. At  the  end  were  the  signatures  of  the  high  dignitaries 
who  had  signed  it.  I  glanced  my  eyes  over  it,  and  then  set- 
tled down  to  my  task  of  copying. 

"  It  was  a  long  document,  written  in  the  French  language, 
and  containing  twenty-six  separate  articles.  I  copied  as  quick- 
ly  as  I  could,  but  at  nine  o'clock  I  had  only  done  nine  arti- 
cles, and  it  seemed  hopeless  for  me  to  attempt  to  catch  my 
train.  1  was  feeling  drowsy  and  stupid,  partly  from  my  din- 
ner and  also  from  the  effects  of  a  long  day's  work.  A  cup 
of  coffee  would  clear  my  brain.  A  commissionnaire  remains 
all  night  in  a  little  lodge  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and  is  in 
the  habit  of  making  coffee  at  his  spirit-lamp  for  any  of  the 
officials  who  may  be  working  over  time.  I  rang  the  bell, 
therefore,  to  summon  him. 

"To  my  surprise,  it  was  a  woman  who  answered  the  sum- 
mons, a  large,  coarse-faced,  elderly  woman,  in  an  apron.  She 
explained  that  she  was  the  commissionnaire's  wife,  who  did 
the  charing,  and  I  gave  her  the  order  for  the  coffee. 


THE    NAVAL   TREATY 


207 


"  I  wrote  two  more  articles,  and  then,  feeling  more  drowsy 
than  ever,  I  rose  and  walked  up  and  down  the  room  to  stretch 
my  legs.  My  coffee  had  not  yet  come,  and  I  wondered  what 
the  cause  of  the  delay  could  be.  Opening  the  door,  I  started 
down  the  corridor  to  find  out.  There  was  a  straight  passage, 
dimly  lighted,  which  led  from  the  room  in  which  I  had  been 
working,  and  was  the  only  exit  from  it.  It  ended  in  a  curv- 
ing staircase,  with  the  commissionnaire's  lodge  in  the  passage 
at  the  bottom.  Half  way  down  this  staircase  is  a  small  land- 
ing, with  another  passage  running  into  it  at  right  angles.  This 
second  one  leads  by  means  of  a  second  small  stair  to  a  side 
door,  used  by  servants,  and  also  as  a  short  cut  by  clerks  when 
coming  from  Charles  Street.  Here  is  a  rough  chart  of  the 
place." 


MAIN  DOOR 


SIDE  DOQP 


LANE 


"  Thank  you.  I  think  that  I  quite  follow  you,"  said  Sher- 
lock Holmes. 

"  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  you  should  notice  this 
point.  I  went  down  the  stairs  and  into  the  hall,  where  I  found 
the  commissionnaire  fast  asleep  in  his  box,  with  the  kettle  boil- 
ing furiously  upon  the  spirit-lamp.  I  took  off  the  kettle  and 


203  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

blew  out  the  lamp,  for  the  water  was  spurting  over  the  floor. 
Then  I  put  out  my  hand  and  was  about  to  shake  the  man, 
who  was  still  sleeping  soundly,  when  a  bell  over  his  head 
rang  loudly,  and  he  woke  with  a  start. 

"  '  Mr.  Phelps,  sir !'  said  he,  looking  at  me  in  bewilderment. 

" '  I  came  down  to  see  if  my  coffee  was  ready.' 

" '  I  was  boiling  the  kettle  when  I  fell  asleep,  sir.'  He 
looked  at  me  and  then  up  at  the  still  quivering  bell  with  an 
ever-growing  astonishment  upon  his  face. 

" '  If  you  was  here,  sir,  then  who  rang  the  bell  ?*  he  asked. 

"  '  The  bell !'  I  cried.     '  What  bell  is  it  ?' 

" '  It's  the  bell  of  the  room  you  were  working  in.' 

"  A  cold  hand  seemed  to  close  round  my  heart.  Some  one, 
then,  was  in  that  room  where  my  precious  treaty  lay  upon  the 
table.  I  ran  frantically  up  the  stair  and  along  the  passage. 
There  was  no  one  in  the  corridors,  Mr.  Holmes.  There  was 
no  one  in  the  room.  All  was  exactly  as  I  left  it,  save  only 
that  the  papers  which  had  been  committed  to  my  care  had 
been  taken  from  the  desk  on  which  they  lay.  The  copy  was 
there,  and  the  original  was  gone." 

Holmes  sat  up  in  his  chair  and  rubbed  his  hands.  I  could 
see  that  the  problem  was  entirely  to  his  heart.  "  Pray,  what 
did  you  do  then  ?"  he  murmured. 

"  I  recognized  in  an  instant  that  the  thief  must  have  come 
up  the  stairs  from  the  side  door.  Of  course  I  must  have  met 
him  if  he  had  come  the  other  way." 

"  You  were  satisfied  that  he  could  not  have  been  concealed 
in  the  room  all  the  time,  or  in  the  corridor  which  you  have 
just  described  as  dimly  lighted  ?" 

"  It  is  absolutely  impossible.  A  rat  could  not  conceal  him- 
self either  in  the  room  or  the  corridor.  There  is  no  cover 
at  all." 

"  Thank  you.     Pray  proceed." 

"  The  commissionnaire,  seeing  by  my  pale  face  that  some- 
thing was  to  be  feared,  had  followed  me  upstairs.  Now  we 
both  rushed  along  the  corridor  and  down  the  steep  steps 


THE   NAVAL    TREATY  209 

wh4ch  led  to  Charles  Street.  The  door  at  the  bottom  was 
closed,  but  unlocked.  We  flung  it  open  and  rushed  out.  I 
can  distinctly  remember  that  as  we  did  so  there  came  three 
chimes  from  a  neighboring  clock.  It  was  a  quarter  to  ten." 

"  That  is  of  enormous  importance,"  said  Holmes,  making  a 
note  upon  his  shirt-cuff. 

"  The  night  was  very  dark,  and  a  thin,  warm  rain  was  fall- 
ing. There  was  no  one  in  Charles  Street,  but  a  great  traffic 
was  going  on,  as  usual,  in  Whitehall,  at  the  extremity.  We 
rushed  along  the  pavement,  bare-headed  as  we  were,  and  at 
the  far  corner  we  found  a  policeman  standing. 

" '  A  robbery  has  been  committed,'  I  gasped.  '  A  docu- 
ment of  immense  value  has  been  stolen  from  the  Foreign 
Office.  Has  any  one  passed  this  way  ?' 

" '  I  have  been  standing  here  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  sir,' 
said  he ,  '  only  one  person  has  passed  during  that  time — a 
woman,  tall  and  elderly,  with  a  Paisley  shawl.' 

'"Ah,  that  is  only  my  wife,'  cried  the  commissionnaire ; 
'  has  no  one  else  passed  ?' 

" '  No  one.' 

" '  Then  it  must  be  the  other  way  that  the  thief  took,'  cried 
the  fellow,  tugging  at  my  sleeve. 

"  But  I  was  not  satisfied,  and  the  attempts  which  he  made 
to  draw  me  away  increased  my  suspicions. 

" '  Which  way  did  the  woman  go  ?'  I  cried. 

" '  I  don't  know,  sir.  I  noticed  her  pass,  but  I  had  no  spe- 
cial reason  for  watching  her.  She  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry.' 

" '  How  long  ago  was  it  ?' 

" '  Oh,  not  very  many  minutes.' 

" '  Within  the  last  five  ?' 

'"Well,  it  could  not  be  more  than  five.' 

'"You're  only  wasting  your  time,  sir,  and  every  minute 
now  is  of  importance,'  cried  the  commissionnaire ;  'take  my 
word  for  it  that  my  old  woman  has  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and 
come  down  to  the  other  end  of  the  street.  Well,  if  you  won't, 
I  will.'  And  with  that  he  rushed  off  in  the  other  direction. 


210  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  But  I  was  after  him  in  an  instant  and  caught  him  by  the 
sleeve. 

"  '  Where  do  you  live  ?'  said  I. 

"  '  16  Ivy  Lane,  Brixton,'  he  answered.  '  But  don't  let  your- 
self be  drawn  away  upon  a  false  scent,  Mr.  Phelps.  Come  to 
the  other  end  of  the  street  and  let  us  see  if  we  can  hear  of 
anything.' 

"  Nothing  was  to  be  lost  by  following  his  advice.  With  the 
policeman  we  both  hurried  down,  but  only  to  find  the  street 
full  of  traffic,  many  people  coming  and  going,  but  all  only  too 
eager  to  get  to  a  place  of  safety  upon  so  wet  a  night.  There 
was  no  lounger  who  could  tell  us  who  had  passed. 

"Then  we  returned  to  the  office,  and  searched  the  stairs 
and  the  passage  without  result.  The  corridor  which  led  to 
the  room  was  laid  down  with  a  kind  of  creamy  linoleum  which 
shows  an  impression  very  easily.  We  examined  it  very  care- 
fully, but  found  no  outline  of  any  footmark." 

"  Had  it  been  raining  all  evening  ?" 

*  Since  about  seven." 

"  How  is  it,  then,  that  the  woman  who  came  into  the  room 
about  nine  left  no  traces  with  her  muddy  boots  ?" 

"  I  am  glad  you  raised  the  point.  It  occurred  to  me  at  the 
time.  The  charwomen  are  in  the  habit  of  taking  off  their 
boots  at  the  commissionnaire's  office,  and  putting  on  list  slip- 
pers." 

"That  is  very  clear.  There  were  no  marks,  then,  though 
the  night  was  a  wet  one?  The  chain  of  events  is  certainly 
one  of  extraordinary  interest.  What  did  you  do  next  ?" 

"  We  examined  the  room  also.  There  is  no  possibility  of 
a  secret  door,  and  the  windows  are  quite  thirty  feet  from  the 
ground.  Both  of  them  were  fastened  on  the  inside.  The 
carpet  prevents  any  possibility  of  a  trap-door,  and  the  ceiling 
is  of  the  ordinary  whitewashed  kind.  I  will  pledge  my  life 
that  whoever  stole  my  papers  could  only  have  come  through 
the  door." 

"  How  about  the  fireplace  ?" 


THE    NAVAL   TREATY  211 

"  They  use  none.  There  is  a  stove.  The  bell-rope  hangs 
from  the  wire  just  to  the  right  of  my  desk.  Whoever  rang  it 
must'have  come  right  up  to  the  desk  to  do  it.  But  why  should 
any  criminal  wish  to  ring  the  bell  ?  It  is  a  most  insoluble 
mystery." 

"  Certainly  the  incident  was  unusual.  What  were  your 
next  steps  ?  You  examined  the  room,  I  presume,  to  see  if 
the  intruder  had  left  any  traces — any  cigar-end  or  dropped 
glove  or  hairpin  or  other  trifle  ?" 

"  There  was  nothing  of  the  sort.3' 

"  No  smell  ?" 

"  Well,  we  never  thought  of  that." 

"Ah,  a  scent  of  tobacco  would  have  been  worth  a  great 
deal  to  us  in  such  an  investigation." 

"  I  never  smoke  myself,  so  I  think  I  should  have  observed 
it  if  there  had  been  any  smell  of  tobacco.  There  was  abso- 
lutely no  clue  of  any  kind.  The  only  tangible  fact  was  that 
the  commissionnaire's  wife — Mrs.  Tangey  was  the  name — had 
hurried  out  of  the  place.  He  could  give  no  explanation  save 
that  it  was  about  the  time  when  the  woman  always  went 
home.  The  policeman  and  I  agreed  that  our  best  plan 
would  be  to  seize  the  woman  before  she  could  get  rid  of  the 
papers,  presuming  that  she  had  them. 

"The  alarm  had  reached  Scotland  Yard  by  this  time,  and 
Mr.  Forbes,  the  detective,  came  round  at  once  and  took  up 
the  case  with  a  great  deal  of  energy.  We  hired  a  hansom, 
and  in  half  an  hour  we  were  at  the  address  which  had  been 
given  to  us.  A  young  woman  opened  the  door,  who  proved 
to  be  Mrs.  Tangey's  eldest  daughter.  Her  mother  had  not 
come  back  yet,  and  we  were  shown  into  the  front  room  to 
wait. 

"  About  ten  minutes  later  a  knock  came  at  the  door,  and 
here  we  made  the  one  serious  mistake  for  which  I  blame  my- 
self. Instead  of  opening  the  door  ourselves,  we  allowed  the 
girl  to  do  so.  We  heard  her  say,  '  Mother,  there  are  two 
men  in  the  house  waiting  to  see  you,'  and  an  instant  after- 


212  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

wards  we  heard  the  patter  of  feet  rushing  down  the  passage. 
Forbes  flung  open  the  door,  and  we  both  ran  into  the  back 
room  or  kitchen,  but  the  woman  had  got  there  before  us. 
She  stared  at  us  with  defiant  eyes,  and  then,  suddenly  recog- 
nizing me,  an  expression  of  absolute  astonishment  came  over 
her  face. 

" '  Why,  if  it  isn't  Mr.  Phelps,  of  the  office !'  she  cried. 

" '  Come,  come,  who  did  you  think  we  were  when  you  ran 
away  from  us  ?'  asked  my  companion. 

" '  I  thought  you  were  the  brokers,'  said  she ,  'we  have 
had  some  trouble  with  a  tradesman. 

"  '  That's  not  quite  good  enough,'  answered  Forbes.  '  We 
have  reason  to  believe  that  you  have  taken  a  paper  of  impor- 
tance from  the  Foreign  Office,  and  that  you  ran  in  here  to 
dispose  of  it.  You  must  come  back  with  us  to  Scotland  Yard 
to  be  searched.' 

"  It  was  in  vain  that  she  protested  and  resisted.  A  four- 
wheeler  was  brought,  and  we  all  three  drove  back  in  it.  We 
had  first  made  an  examination  of  the  kitchen,  and  especially 
of  the  kitchen  fire,  to  see  whether  she  might  have  made  away 
with  the  papers  during  the  instant  that  she  was  alone.  There 
were  no  signs,  however,  of  any  ashes  or  scraps.  When  we 
reached  Scotland  Yard  she  was  handed  over  at  once  to  the 
female  searcher.  I  waited  in  an  agony  of  suspense  until  she 
came  back  with  her  report.  There  were  no  signs  of  the  pa- 
pers. 

"  Then  for  the  first  time  the  horror  of  my  situation  came  in 
its  full  force.  Hitherto  I  had  been  acting,  and  action  had 
numbed  thought.  I  had  been  so  confident  of  regaining  the 
treaty  at  once  that  I  had  not  dared  to  think  of  what  would  be 
the  consequence  if  I  failed  to  do  so.  But  now  there  was 
nothing  more  to  be  done,  and  I  had  leisure  to  realize  my  po- 
sition. It  was  horrible.  Watson  there  would  tell  you  that  I 
was  a  nervous,  sensitive  boy  at  school.  It  is  my  nature.  I 
thought  of  my  uncle  and  of  his  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet,  of 
the  shame  which  I  had  brought  upon  him,  upon  myself,  upon 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  313 

every  one  connected  with  me.  What  though  I  was  the  vic- 
tim of  an  extraordinary  accident  ?  No  allowance  is  made  for 
accidents  where  diplomatic  interests  are  at  stake.  I  was  ru- 
ined, shamefully,  hopelessly  ruined.  I  don't  know  what  I  did. 
I  fancy  I  must  have  made  a  scene.  I  have  a  dim  recollec- 
tion of  a  group  of  officials  who  crowded  round  me,  endeavor- 
ing to  soothe  me.  One  of  them  drove  down  with  me  to  Wa- 
terloo, and  saw  me  into  the  Woking  train.  I  believe  that  he 
would  have  come  all  the  way  had  it  not  been  that  Dr.  Ferrier, 
who  lives  near  me,  was  going  down  by  that  very  train.  The 
doctor  most  kindly  took  charge  of  me,  and  it  was  well  he  did 
so,  for  I  had  a  fit  in  the  station,  and  before  we  reached  home 
I  was  practically  a  raving  maniac. 

"  You  can  imagine  the  state  of  things  here  when  they  were 
roused  from  their  beds  by  the  doctor's  ringing,  and  found  me 
in  this  condition.  Poor  Annie  here  and  my  mother  were 
broken-hearted.  Dr.  Ferrier  had  just  heard  enough  from  the 
detective  at  the  station  to  be  able  to  give  an  idea  of  what  had 
happened,  and  his  story  did  not  mend  matters.  It  was  evi- 
dent to  all  that  I  was  in  for  a  long  illness,  so  Joseph  was  bun- 
dled out  of  this  cheery  bedroom,  and  it  was  turned  into  a  sick- 
room for  me.  Here  I  have  lain,  Mr.  Holmes,  for  over  nine 
weeks,  unconscious,  and  raving  with  brain-fever.  If  it  had 
not  been  for  Miss  Harrison  here  and  for  the  doctor's  care  I 
should  not  be  speaking  to  you  now.  She  has  nursed  me  by 
day  and  a  hired  nurse  has  looked  after  me  by  night,  for  in  my 
mad  fits  I  was  capable  of  anything.  Slowly  my  reason  has 
cleared,  but  it  is  only  during  the  last  three  days  that  my  mem- 
ory has  quite  returned.  Sometimes  I  wish  that  it  never  had. 
The  first  thing  that  I  did  was  to  wire  to  Mr.  Forbes,  who  had 
the  case  in  hand.  He  came  out,  and  assures  me  that,  though 
everything  has  been  done,  no  trace  of  a  clue  has  been  discov- 
ered. The  commissionnaire  and  his  wife  have  been  exam- 
ined in  every  way  without  any  light  being  thrown  upon  the 
matter.  The  suspicions  of  the  police  then  rested  upon  young 
Gorot,  who,  as  you  may  remember,  stayed  over  time  in  the 


214  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOC-K    HOLMES 

office  that  night.  His  remaining  behind  and  his  French  name 
were  really  the  only  two  points  which  could  suggest  suspicion  • 
but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  did  not  begin  work  until  he  had 
gone,  and  his  people  are  of  Huguenot  extraction,  but  as  Eng- 
lish in  sympathy  and  tradition  as  you  and  I  are.  Nothing 
was  found  to  implicate  him  in  any  way,  and  there  the  matter 
dropped.  I  turn  to  you,  Mr.  Holmes,  as  absolutely  my  last 
hope.  If  you  fail  me,  then  my  honor  as  well  as  my  position 
are  forever  forfeited." 

The  invalid  sank  back  upon  his  cushions,  tired  out  by  this 
long  recital,  while  his  nurse  poured  him  out  a  glass  of  some 
stimulating  medicine.  Holmes  sat  silently,  with  his  head 
thrown  back  and  his  eyes  closed,  in  an  attitude  which  might 
seem  listless  to  a  stranger,  but  which  I  knew  betokened  the 
most  intense  self-absorption. 

"Your  statement  has  been  so  explicit,"  said  he  at  last, 
"that  you  have  really  left  me  very  few  questions  to  ask. 
There  is  one  of  the  very  utmost  importance,  however.  Did 
you  tell  any  one  that  you  had  this  special  task  to  perform  ?" 

"  No  one." 

"  Not  Miss  Harrison  here,  for  example  ?" 

"  No.  I  had  not  been  back  to  Woking  between  getting 
the  order  and  executing  the  commission." 

"And  none  of  your  people  had  by  chance  been  to  see 
you  ?" 

"  None." 

"  Did  any  of  them  know  their  way  about  in  the  office  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  all  of  them  had  been  shown  over  it." 

"  Still,  of  course,  if  you  said  nothing  to  any  one  about  the 
treaty  these  inquiries  are  irrelevant." 

"  I  said  nothing." 

"  Do  you  know  anything  of  the  commissionnaire  ?" 

"  Nothing  except  that  he  is  an  old  soldier." 

"  What  regiment  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  have  heard— Coldstream  Guards." 

"  Thank  you.     I  have  no  doubt  I  can   get  details  from 


THE    NAVAL   TREATY  215 

Forbes.  The  authorities  are  excellent  at  amassing  facts, 
though  they  do  not  always  use  them  to  advantage.  What  a 
lovely  thing  a  rose  is  !" 

He  walked  past  the  couch  to  the  open  window,  and  held 
up  the  drooping  stalk  of  a  moss-rose,  looking  down  at  the 
dainty  blend  of  crimson  and  green.  It  was  a  new  phase  of 
his  character  to  me,  for  I  had  never  before  seen  him  show 
any  keen  interest  in  natural  objects. 

"  There  is  nothing  in  which  deduction  is  so  necessary  as  in 
religion,"  said  he,  leaning  with  his  back  against  the  shutters. 
"  It  can  be  built  up  as  an  exact  science  by  the  reasoner.  Our 
highest  assurance  of  the  goodness  of  Providence  seems  to  me 
to  rest  in  the  flowers.  All  other  things,  our  powers,  our  de- 
sires, our  food,  are  all  really  necessary  for  our  existence  in 
the  first  instance.  But  this  rose  is  an  extra.  Its  smell  and 
its  color  are  an  embellishment  of  life,  not  a  condition  of  it. 
It  is  only  goodness  which  gives  extras,  and  so  I  say  again 
that  we  have  much  to  hope  from  the  flowers." 

Percy  Phelps  and  his  nurse  looked  at  Holmes  during  this 
demonstration  with  surprise  and  a  good  deal  of  disappoint- 
ment written  upon  their  faces.  He  had  fallen  into  a  reverie, 
with  the  moss-rose  between  his  ringers.  It  had  lasted  some 
minutes  before  the  young  lady  broke  in  upon  it. 

"  Do  you  see  any  prospect  of  solving  this  mystery,  Mr. 
Holmes  ?"  she  asked,  with  a  touch  of  asperity  in  her  voice. 

"  Oh,  the  mystery !"  he  answered,  coming  back  with  a  start 
to  the  realities  of  life.  "  Well,  it  would  be  absurd  to  deny 
that  the  case  is  a  very  abstruse  and  complicated  one,  but  I 
can  promise  you  that  I  will  look  into  the  matter  and  let  you 
know  any  points  which  may  strike  me.'' 

"  Do  you  see  any  clue  ?" 

"  You  have  furnished  me  with  seven ,  but,  of  course,  I  must 
test  them  before  I  can  pronounce  upon  their  value." 

"  You  suspect  some  one  ?" 

"  I  suspect  myself." 

"What!" 


2l6  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"Of  corn-ing  to  conclusions  too  rapidly." 

"Then  go  to  London  and  test  your  conclusions." 

"Your  advice  is  very  excellent,  Miss  Harrison,"  said 
Holmes,  rising.  "  I  think,  Watson,  we  cannot  do  better.  Do 
not  allow  yourself  to  indulge  in  false  hopes,  Mr.  Phelps.  The 
affair  is  a  very  tangled  one." 

"I  shall  be  in  a  fever  until  I  see  you  again,"  cried  the 
diplomatist. 

"Well,  I'll  come  out  by  the  same  train  to-morrow,  though 
it's  more  than  likely  that  my  report  will  be  a  negative  one." 

"  God  bless  you  for  promising  to  come,"  cried  our  client. 
"  It  gives  me  fresh  life  to  know  that  something  is  being  done. 
By  the  way,  I  have  had  a  letter  from  Lord  Holdhurst." 

"  Ha !  what  did  he  say  ?" 

"  He  was  cold,  but  not  harsh.  I  dare  say  my  severe  illness 
prevented  him  from  being  that.  He  repeated  that  the  matter 
was  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  added  that  no  steps  would 
be  taken  about  my  future — by  which  he  means,  of  course,  my 
dismissal — until  my  health  was  restored  and  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  repairing  my  misfortune." 

"  Well,  that  was  reasonable  and  considerate,"  said  Holmes. 
"  Come,  Watson,  for  we  have  a  good  day's  work  before  us  in 
town." 

Mr.  Joseph  Harrison  drove  us  down  to  the  station,  and  we 
were  soon  whirling  up  in  a  Portsmouth  train.  Holmes  was 
sunk  in  profound  thought,  and  hardly  opened  his  mouth  until 
we  had  passed  Clapham  Junction. 

"  It's  a  very  cheery  thing  to  come  into  London  by  any  of 
these  lines  which  run  high,  and  allow  you  to  look  down  upon 
the  houses  like  this." 

I  thought  he  was  joking,  for  the  view  was  sordid  enough, 
but  he  soon  explained  himself. 

"  Look  at  those  big,  isolated  clumps  of  building  rising  up 
above  the  slates,  like  brick  islands  in  a  lead-colored  sea." 

"  The  board-schools." 

"  Light-houses,  my  boy  !     Beacons  of  the  future  !    Capsules 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  217 

with  hundreds  of  bright  little  seeds  in  each,  out  of  which  will 
spring  the  wiser,  better  England  of  the  future.  I  suppose 
that  man  Phelps  does  not  drink  ?" 

"  I  should  not  think  so." 

"  Nor  should  I,  but  we  are  bound  to  take  every  possibility 
into  account.  The  poor  devil  has  certainly  got  himself  into 
very  deep  water,  and  it's  a  question  whether  we  shall  ever  be 
able  to  get  him  ashore.  What  did  you  think  of  Miss  Harri- 
son ?" 

"A  girl  of  strong  character." 

"  Yes,  but  she  is  a  good  sort,  or  I  am  mistaken.  She  and 
her  brother  are  the  only  children  of  an  iron -master  some- 
where up  Northumberland  way.  He  got  engaged  to  her  when 
travelling  last  winter,  and  she  came  down  to  be  introduced 
to  his  people,  with  her  brother  as  escort.  Then  came  the 
smash,  and  she  stayed  on  to  nurse  her  lover,  while  brother 
Joseph,  finding  himself  pretty  snug,  stayed  on  too.  I've  been 
making  a  few  independent  inquiries,  you  see.  But  to-day 
must  be  a  day  of  inquiries." 

"  My  practice —  "  I  began. 

"Oh,  if  you  find  your  own  cases  more  interesting  than 
mine — "  said  Holmes,  with  some  asperity. 

"  I  was  going  to  say  that  my  practice  could  get  along  very 
well  for  a  day  or  two,  since  it  is  the  slackest  time  in  the  year." 

"Excellent,"  said  he,  recovering  his  good-humor.  "Then 
we'll  look  into  this  matter  together.  I  think  that  we  should 
begin  by  seeing  Forbes.  He  can  probably  tell  us  all  the  de- 
tails we  want  until  we  know  from  what  side  the  case  is  to  be 
approached." 

"  You  said  you  had  a  clue  ?" 

"  Well,  we  have  several,  but  we  can  only  test  their  value  by 
further  inquiry.  The  most  difficult  crime  to  track  is  the  one 
which  is  purposeless.  Now  this  is  not  purposeless.  Who  is 
it  who  profits  by  it  ?  Th«re  is  the  French  ambassador,  there 
is  the  Russian,  there  is  whoever  might  sell  it  to  either  of 
these,  and  there  is  Lord  Holdhurst" 
r 


*l8  MEMOIRS   OF  SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  Lord  Holdhurst !" 

"  Well,  it  is  just  conceivable  that  a  statesman  might  find 
himself  in  a  position  where  he  was  not  sorry  to  have  such  a 
document  accidentally  destroyed." 

"  Not  a  statesman  with  the  honorable  record  of  Lord  Hold- 
hurst?" 

"  It  is  a  possibility  and  we  cannot  afford  to  disregard  it. 
We  shall  see  the  noble  lord  to-day  and  find  out  if  he  can  tell 
us  anything.  Meanwhile  I  have  already  set  inquiries  on 
foot." 

"  Already  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  sent  wires  from  Woking  station  to  every  evening 
paper  in  London.  This  advertisement  will  appear  in  each  of 
them." 

He  handed  over  a  sheet  torn  from  a  note-book.  On  it  was 
scribbled  in  pencil:  ";£io  reward.  The  number  of  the  cab 
which  dropped  a  fare  at  or  about  the  door  of  the  Foreign 
Office  in  Charles  Street  at  quarter  to  ten  in  the  evening  of 
May  23d.  Apply  221  B,  Baker  Street." 

"  You  are  confident  that  the  thief  came  in  a  cab  ?" 

"  If  not,  there  is  no  harm  done.  But  if  Mr.  Phelps  is  cor- 
rect in  stating  that  there  is  no  hiding-place  either  in  the  room 
or  the  corridors,  then  the  person  must  have  come  from  out- 
side. If  he  came  from  outside  on  so  wet  a  night,  and  yet  left 
no  trace  of  damp  upon  the  linoleum,  which  was  examined 
within  a  few  minutes  of  his  passing,  then  it  is  exceedingly 
probable  that  he  came  in  a  cab.  Yes,  I  think  that  we  may 
safely  deduce  a  cab." 

"  It  sounds  plausible." 

"  That  is  one  of  the  clues  of  which  I  spoke.  It  may  lead 
us  to  something.  And  then,  of  course,  there  is  the  bell — 
which  is  the  most  distinctive  feature  of  the  case.  Why 
should  the  bell  ring  ?  Was  it  the  thief  who  did  it  out  of  bra- 
vado ?  Or  was  it  some  one  who  was  with  the  thief  who  did  it 
in  order  to  prevent  the  crime  ?  Or  was  it  an  accident  ?  Or 
was  it — ?"  He  sank  back  into  the  state  of  intense  and  silent 


THE    NAVAL    TREATY  219 

thought  from  which  he  had  emerged ;  but  it  seemed  to  me, 
accustomed  as  I  was  to  his  every  mood,  that  some  new  possi- 
bility had  dawned  suddenly  upon  him. 

It  was  twenty  past  three  when  we  reached  our  terminus, 
and  after  a  hasty  luncheon  at  the  buffet  we  pushed  on  at  once 
to  Scotland  Yard.  Holmes  had  already  wired  to  Forbes,  and 
we  found  him  waiting  to  receive  us — a  small,  foxy  man  with 
a  sharp  but  by  no  means  amiable  expression.  He  was  de- 
cidedly frigid  in  his  manner  to  us,  especially  when  he  heard 
the  errand  upon  which  we  had  come. 

"I've  heard  of  your  methods  before  now,  Mr.  Holmes," 
said  he,  tartly.  "  You  are  ready  enough  to  use  all  the  in- 
formation that  the  police  can  lay  at  your  disposal,  and  then 
you  try  to  finish  the  case  yourself  and  bring  discredit  on 
them." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  said  Holmes,  "  out  of  my  last  fifty-three 
cases  my  name  has  only  appeared  in  four,  and  the  police  have 
had  all  the  credit  in  forty-nine.  I  don't  blame  you  for  not 
knowing  this,  for  you  are  young  and  inexperienced,  but  if  you 
wish  to  get  on  in  your  new  duties  you  will  work  with  me  and 
not  against  me." 

"I'd  be  very  glad  of  a  hint  or  two,"  said  the  detective, 
changing  his  manner.  "  I've  certainly  had  no  credit  from 
the  case  so  far." 

"  What  steps  have  you  taken  ?" 

"  Tangey,  the  commissionnaire,  has  been  shadowed.  He 
left  the  Guards  with  a  good  character  and  we  can  find  noth- 
ing against  him.  His  wife  is  a  bad  lot,  though.  I  fancy  she 
knows  more  about  this  than  appears." 

"  Have  you  shadowed  her  ?" 

"  We  have  set  one  of  our  women  on  to  her.  Mrs.  Tangey 
drinks,  and  our  woman  has  been  with  her  twice  when  she  was 
well  on,  but  she  could  get  nothing  out  of  her." 

"  I  understand  that  they  have  had  brokers  in  the  house  ?" 

"  Yes,  but  they  were  paid  off." 

"  Where  did  the  money  come  from  ?" 


220  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  That  was  all  right.  His  pension  was  due.  They  have 
not  shown  any  sign  of  being  in  funds." 

"What  explanation  did  she  give  of  having  answered  the 
bell  when  Mr.  Phelps  rang  for  the  coffee  ?" 

"  She  said  that  her  husband  was  very  tired  and  she  wished 
to  relieve  him." 

"  Well,  certainly  that  would  agree  with  his  being  found  a 
little  later  asleep  in  his  chair.  There  is  nothing  against  them 
then  but  the  woman's  character.  Did  you  ask  her  why  she 
hurried  away  that  night  ?  Her  haste  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  police  constable." 

"  She  was  later  than  usual  and  wanted  to  get  home." 

"  Did  you  point  out  to  her  that  you  and  Mr.  Phelps,  who 
.started  at  least  twenty  minutes  after  her,  got  home  before 
her?" 

"  She  explains  that  by  the  difference  between  a  'bus  and  a 
Jhansom." 

"  Did  she  make  it  clear  why,  on  reaching  her  house,  she  ran 
into  the  back  kitchen  ?" 

"  Because  she  had  the  money  there  with  which  to  pay  off 
the  brokers." 

"  She  has  at  least  an  answer  for  everything.  Did  you  ask 
her  whether  in  leaving  she  met  any  one  or  saw  any  one  loiter- 
ing about  Charles  Street  ?" 

"  She  saw  no  one  but  the  constable." 

"Well,  you  seem  to  have  cross-examined  her  pretty  thor- 
oughly. What  else  have  you  done  ?" 

"  The  clerk  Gorot  has  been  shadowed  all  these  nine  weeks, 
ibut  without  result.  We  can  show  nothing  against  him." 

"  Anything  else  ?" 

"  Well,  we  have  nothing  else  to  go  upon — no  evidence  of 
•any  kind." 

"  Have  you  formed  any  theory  about  how  that  bell  rang  ?" 

"  Well,  I  must  confess  that  it  beats  me.  It  was  a  cool  hand, 
whoever  it  was,  to  go  and  give  the  alarm  like  that." 

"  Yes,  it  was  a  queer  thing  to  do.     Many  thanks  to  you  for 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  221 

what  you  havt,  told  me.    If  I  can  put  the  man  into  your  hands 
you  sliall  hear  from  me.     Come  along,  Watson." 

"  Where  are  we  going  to  now  ?"  I  asked,  as  we  left  the 
office. 

"  We  are  now  going  to  interview  Lord  Holdhurst,  the  cab- 
inet minister  and  future  premier  of  England." 

We  were  fortunate  in  finding  that  Lord  Holdhurst  was  still 
in  his  chambers  in  Downing  Street,  and  on  Holmes  sending 
in  his  card  we  were  instantly  shown  up.  The  statesman  re- 
ceived us  with  that  old-fashioned  courtesy  for  which  he  is  re- 
markable, and  seated  us  on  the  two  luxuriant  lounges  on  either 
side  of  the  fireplace.  Standing  on  the  rug  between  us,  with 
his  slight,  tall  figure,  his  sharp  features,  thoughtful  face,  and 
curling  hair  prematurely  tinged  with  gray,  he  seemed  to  rep- 
resent that  not  too  common  type,  a  nobleman  who  is  in  truth 
noble. 

"  Your  name  is  very  familiar  to  me,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  he, 
smiling.  "  And,  of  course,  I  cannot  pretend  to  be  ignorant 
of  the  object  of  your  visit.  There  has  only  been  one  occur- 
rence in  these  offices  which  could  call  for  your  attention.  In 
whose  interest  are  you  acting,  may  I  ask  ?" 

"  In  that  of  Mr.  Percy  Phelps,"  answered  Holmes. 

"  Ah,  my  unfortunate  nephew  !  You  can  understand  that 
our  kinship  makes  it  the  more  impossible  for  me  to  screen 
him  in  any  way.  I  fear  that  the  incident  must  have  a  very 
prejudicial  effect  upon  his  career." 

"  But  if  the  document  is  found  ?" 

"  Ah,  that,  of  course,  would  be  different." 

"  I  had  one  or  two  questions  which  I  wished  to  ask  you, 
Lord  Holdhurst." 

"  I  shall  be  happy  to  give  you  any  information  in  my 
power." 

"  Was  it  in  this  room  that  you  gave  your  instructions  as  to 
the  copying  of  the  document  ?" 

"  It  was." 

"  Then  you  could  hardly  have  been  overheard  ?" 


222  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  It  is  out  of  the  question." 

"  Did  you  ever  mention  to  any  one  that  it  was  your  inten- 
tion to  give  any  one  the  treaty  to  be  copied  ?" 

"  Never." 

"  You  are  certain  of  that  ?" 

"  Absolutely." 

"  Well,  since  you  never  said  so,  and  Mr.  Phelps  never  said 
so,  and  nobody  else  knew  anything  of  the  matter,  then  the 
thief  s  presence  in  the  room  was  purely  accidental.  He  saw 
his  chance  and  he  took  it." 

The  statesman  smiled.  "  You  take  me  out  of  my  province 
there,"  said  he. 

Holmes  considered  for  a  moment.  "  There  is  another 
very  important  point  which  I  wish  to  discuss  with  you," 
said  he.  "  You  feared,  as  I  understand,  that  very  grave  re- 
sults might  follow  from  the  details  of  this  treaty  becoming 
known." 

A  shadow  passed  over  the  expressive  face  of  the  states- 
man. "Very  grave  results  indeed." 

"  And  have  they  occurred  ?" 

"  Not  yet." 

"  If  the  treaty  had  reached,  let  us  say,  the  French  or  Rus- 
sian Foreign  Office,  you  would  expect  to  hear  of  it  ?" 

"  I  should,"  said  Lord  Holdhurst,  with  a  wry  face. 

"  Since  nearly  ten  weeks  have  elapsed,  then,  and  nothing 
has  been  heard,  it  is  not  unfair  to  suppose  that  for  some  rea- 
son the  treaty  has  not  reached  them." 

Lord  Holdhurst  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"We  can  hardly  suppose,  Mr.  Holmes,  that  the  thief  took 
the  treaty  in  order  to  frame  it  and  hang  it  up." 

"  Perhaps  he  is  waiting  for  a  better  price." 

"  If  he  waits  a  little  longer  he  will  get  no  price  at  all.  The 
treaty  will  cease  to  be  secret  in  a  few  months." 

"  That  is  most  important,"  said  Holmes.  "  Of  course,  it 
is  a  possible  supposition  that  the  thief  has  had  a  sudden 
illness — " 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  223 

"  An  attack  of  brain-fever,  for  example  ?"  asked  the  states- 
man, flashing  a  swift  glance  at  him. 

"I  did  not  say  so,"  said  Holmes,  imperturbably.  "And 
now,  Lord  Holdhurst,  we  have  already  taken  up  too  much  of 
your  valuable  time,  and  we  shall  wish  you  good-day." 

"  Every  success  to  your  investigation,  be  the  criminal  who 
it  may,"  answered  the  nobleman,  as  he  bowed  us  out  at  the 
door. 

"  He's  a  fine  fellow,"  said  Holmes,  as  we  came  out  into 
Whitehall.  "  But  he  has  a  struggle  to  keep  up  his  position. 
He  is  far  from  rich  and  has  many  calls.  You  noticed,  of 
course,  that  his  boots  had  been  resoled.  Now,  Watson,  I 
won't  detain  you  from  your  legitimate  work  any  longer.  I 
shall  do  nothing  more  to-day,  unless  I  have  an  answer  to  my 
cab  advertisement.  But  I  should  be  extremely  obliged  to  you 
if  you  would  come  down  with  me  to  Woking  to-morrow,  by 
the  same  train  which  we  took  yesterday." 

I  met  him  accordingly  next  morning  and  we  travelled  down 
to  Woking  together.  He  had  had  no  answer  to  his  advertise- 
ment, he  said,  and  no  fresh  light  had  been  thrown  upon  the 
case.  He  had,  when  he  so  willed  it,  the  utter  immobility  of 
countenance  of  a  red  Indian,  and  I  could  not  gather  from  his 
appearance  whether  he  was  satisfied  or  not  with  the  position 
of  the  case.  His  conversation,  I  remember,  was  about  the 
Bertillon  system  of  measurements,  and  he  expressed  his  en- 
thusiastic admiration  of  the  French  savant. 

We  found  our  client  still  under  the  charge  of  his  devoted 
nurse,  but  looking  considerably  better  than  before.  He  rose 
from  the  sofa  and  greeted  us  without  difficulty  when  we  en- 
tered. 

"  Any  news  ?"  he  asked,  eagerly. 

"  My  report,  as  I  expected,  is  a  negative  one,"  said  Holmes. 
*  I  have  seen  Forbes,  and  I  have  seen  your  uncle,  and  I  have 
set  one  or  two  trains  of  inquiry  upon  foot  which  may  lead  to 
something.*" 


224  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

"  You  have  not  lost  heart,  then  ?" 

"  By  no  means." 

"God  bless  you  for  saying  that !"  cried  Miss  Harrison.  '•  If 
we  keep  our  courage  and  our  patience  the  truth  must  come 
out." 

"  We  have  more  to  tell  you  than  you  have  for  us,"  said 
Phelps,  reseating  himself  upon  the  couch. 

"  I  hoped  you  might  have  something." 

"  Yes,  we  have  had  an  adventure  during  the  night,  and  one 
which  might  have  proved  to  be  a  serious  one."  His  expres- 
sion grew  very  grave  as  he  spoke,  and  a  look  of  something 
akin  to  fear  sprang  up  in  his  eyes.  "  Do  you  know,"  said  he, 
"  that  I  begin  to  believe  that  I  am  the  unconscious  centre  of 
some  monstrous  conspiracy,  and  that  my  life  is  aimed  at  as 
well  as  my  honor  ?" 

"Ah!"  cried  Holmes. 

"It  sounds  incredible,  for  I  have  not,  as  far  as  I  know,  an 
enemy  in  the  world.  Yet  from  last  night's  experience  I  can 
come  to  no  other  conclusion." 

"  Pray  let  me  hear  it." 

"You  must  know  that  last  night  was  the  very  first  night 
that  I  have  ever  slept  without  a  nurse  in  the  room.  I  was  so 
much  better  that  I  thought  I  could  dispense  with  one.  I  had 
a  night-light  burning,  however.  Well,  about  two  in  the  morn 
ing  I  had  sunk  into  a  light  sleep  when  I  was  suddenly  aroused 
by  a  slight  noise.  It  was  like  the  sound  which  a  mouse  makes 
when  it  is  gnawing  a  plank,  and  I  lay  listening  to  it  for  some 
time  under  the  impression  that  it  must  come  from  that  cause. 
Then  it  grew  louder,  and  suddenly  there  came  from  the  win- 
dow a  sharp  metallic  snick.  I  sat  up  in  amazement.  There 
could  be  no  doubt  what  the  sounds  were  now.  The  first  ones 
had  been  caused  oy  some  one  forcing  an  instrument  through 
the  slit  between  the  sashes,  and  the  second  by  the  catch  being 
pressed  back. 

"There  was  a  pause  then  for  about  ten  minutes,  as  if  the 
person  were  waiting  to  see  whether  the  noise  had  awakened 


THE    NAVAL   TREATY  225 

me.  Then  I  heard  a  gentle  creaking  as  the  window  was  very 
slowly  opened.  I  could  stand  it  no  longer,  for  my  nerves  are 
not  what  they  used  to  be.  I  sprang  out  of  bed  and  flung 
open  the  shutters.  A  man  was  crouching  at  the  window.  I 
could  see  little  of  him,  for  he  was  gone  like  a  flash.  He  was 
wrapped  in  some  sort  of  cloak  which  came  across  the  lower 
part  of  his  face.  One  thing  only  I  am  sure  of,  and  that  is 
that  he  had  some  weapon  in  his  hand.  It  looked  to  me  like 
a  long  knife.  I  distinctly  saw  the  gleam  of  it  as  he  turned  to 
run." 

"  This  is  most  interesting,"  said  Holmes.  "  Pray  what  did 
you  do  then  ?" 

"  I  should  have  followed  him  through  the  open  window  if  [ 
had  been  stronger.  As  it  was,  I  rang  the  bell  and  roused  the 
house.  It  took  me  some  little  time,  for  the  bell  rings  in  the 
kitchen  and  the  servants  all  sleep  upstairs.  I  shouted,  how- 
ever, and  that  brought  Joseph  down,  and  he  roused  the  others. 
Joseph  and  the  groom  found  marks  on  the  bed  outside  the 
window,  but  the  weather  has  been  so  dry  lately  that  they 
found  it  hopeless  to  follow  the  trail  across  the  grass.  There's 
a  place,  however,  on  the  wooden  fence  which  skirts  the  road 
which  shows  signs,  they  tell  me,  as  if  some  one  had  got  over, 
and  had  snapped  the  top  of  the  rail  in  doing  so.  I  have  said 
nothing  to  the  local  police  yet,  for  I  thought  I  had  best  have 
your  opinion  first." 

This  tale  of  our  client's  appeared  to  have  an  extraordinary 
effect  upon  Sherlock  Holmes.  He  rose  from  his  chair  and 
paced  about  the  room  in  uncontrollable  excitement. 

"  Misfortunes  never  come  single,''  said  Phelps,  smiling, 
though  it  was  evident  that  his  adventure  had  somewhat 
shaken  him. 

•'You  have  certainly  had  your  share,''  said  Holmes.  "Do 
you  think  you  could  walk  round  the  house  with  me  ?'; 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  should  like  a  little  sunshine.  Joseph  will  come, 
too." 

"  And  I  also,"  said  Miss  Harrison. 


226  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  I  am  afraid  not,"  said  Holmes,  shaking  his  head.  "  I 
think  I  must  ask  you  to  remain  sitting  exactly  where  you  are." 

The  young  lady  resumed  her  seat  with  an  air  of  displeas- 
ure. Her  brother,  however,  had  joined  us  and  we  set  off  all 
four  together.  We  passed  round  the  lawn  to  the  outside  of 
the  young  diplomatist's  window.  There  were,  as  he  had  said, 
marks  upon  the  bed,  but  they  were  hopelessly  blurred  and 
vague.  Holmes  stooped  over  them  for  an  instant,  and  then 
rose  shrugging  his  shoulders. 

"  I  don't  think  any  one  could  make  much  of  this,"  said  he. 
"  Let  us  go  round  the  house  and  see  why  this  particular  room 
was  chosen  by  the  burglar.  I  should  have  thought  those 
larger  windows  of  the  drawing-room  and  dining-room  would 
have  had  more  attractions  for  him." 

"They  are  more  visible  from  the  road,"  suggested  Mr. 
Joseph  Harrison. 

"  Ah,  yes,  of  course.  There  is  a  door  here  which  he  might 
have  attempted.  What  is  it  for  ?" 

"  It  is  the  side  entrance  for  trades-people.  Of  course  it  is 
locked  at  night." 

"  Have  you  ever  had  an  alarm  like  this  before  ?" 

"  Never,"  said  our  client. 

"  Do  you  keep  plate  in  the  house,  or  anything  to  attract 
burglars  ?" 

"  Nothing  of  value." 

Holmes  strolled  round  the  house  with  his  hands  in  his 
pockets  and  a  negligent  air  which  was  unusual  with  him. 

"By  the  way,"  said  he  to  Joseph  Harrison,  "you  found 
some  place,  I  understand,  where  the  fellow  scaled  the  fence. 
Let  us  have  a  look  at  that !" 

The  plump  young  man  led  us  to  a  spot  where  the  top  of 
one  of  the  wooden  rails  had  been  cracked.  A  small  fragment 
of  the  wood  was  hanging  down.  Holmes  pulled  it  off  and 
examined  it  critically. 

"  Do  you  think  that  was  done  last  night  ?  It  looks  rather 
old,  does  it  not  ?" 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY  227 

"  Well,  possibly  so." 

"There  are  no  marks  of  any  one  jumping  down  upon  the 
other  side.  No,  I  fancy  we  shall  get  no  help  here.  Let  us 
go  back  to  the  bedroom  and  talk  the  matter  over." 

Percy  Phelps  was  walking  very  slowly,  leaning  upon  the 
arm  of  his  future  brother-in-law.  Holmes  walked  swiftly 
across  the  lawn,  and  we  were  at  the  open  window  of  the  bed- 
room long  before  the  others  came  up. 

"  Miss  Harrison,"  said  Holmes,  speaking  with  the  utmost 
intensity  of  manner,  "  you  must  stay  where  you  are  all  day. 
Let  nothing  prevent  you  from  staying  where  you  are  all  day. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance." 

"  Certainly,  if  you  wish  it,  Mr.  Holmes,"  said  the  girl  in 
astonishment. 

"  When  you  go  to  bed  lock  the  door  of  this  room  on  the 
outside  and  keep  the  key.     Promise  to  do  this." 
.     "  But  Percy  ?" 

"  He  will  come  to  London  with  us." 

"  And  am  I  to  remain  here  ?" 

"  It  is  for  his  sake.  You  can  serve  him.  Quick !  Prom- 
ise !" 

She  gave  a  quick  nod  of  assent  just  as  the  other  two  came 
up. 

"  Why  do  you  sit  moping  there,  Annie  ?"  cried  her  brother, 
"  Come  out  into  the  sunshine  !" 

"  No,  thank  you,  Joseph.  I  have  a  slight  headache  and 
this  room  is  deliciously  cool  and  soothing." 

"What  do  you  propose  now,  Mr.  Holmes?"  asked  our 
client. 

.  "  Well,  in  investigating  this  minor  affair  we  must  not  lose 
sight  of  our  main  inquiry.  It  would  be  a  very  great  help  to 
me  if  you  would  come  up  to  London  with  us." 

"  At  once  ?" 

"  Well,  as  soon  as  you  conveniently  can.  Say  in  an 
hour."' 

"  I  feel  quite  strong  enough,  if  I  can  really  be  of  any  help." 


228  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  The  greatest  possible." 

"  Perhaps  you  would  like  me  to  stay  there  to-night  ?" 

"  I  was  just  going  to  propose  it." 

"  Then,  if  my  friend  of  the  night  comes  to  revisit  me,  he  will 
find  the  bird  flown.  We  are  all  in  your  hands,  Mr.  Holmes, 
and  you  must  tell  us  exactly  what  you  would  like  done.  Per- 
haps you  would  prefer  that  Joseph  came  with  us  so  as  to  look 
after  me  ?" 

"  Oh,  no ;  my  friend  Watson  is  a  medical  man,  you  know, 
and  he'll  look  after  you.  We'll  have  our  lunch  here,  if  you 
will  permit  us,  and  then  we  shall  all  three  set  off  for  town  to- 
gether." 

It  was  arranged  as  he  suggested,  though  Miss  Harrison  ex- 
cused herself  from  leaving  the  bedroom,  in  accordance  with 
Holmes's  suggestion.  What  the  object  of  my  friend's  manoeu- 
vres was  I  could  not  conceive,  unless  it  were  to  keep  the  lady 
away  from  Phelps,  who,  rejoiced  by  his  returning  health  and 
by  the  prospect  of  action,  lunched  with  us  in  the  dining-room. 
Holmes  had  a  still  more  startling  surprise  for  us,  however,  for, 
after  accompanying  us  down  to  the  station  and  seeing  us  into 
our  carriage,  he  calmly  announced  that  he  had  no  intention  of 
leaving  Woking. 

"  There  are  one  or  two  small  points  which  I  should  desire 
to  clear  up  before  I  go,"  said  he.  "  Your  absence,  Mr.  Phelps, 
will  in  some  ways  rather  assist  me.  Watson,  when  you  reach 
London  you  would  oblige  me  by  driving  at  once  to  Baker 
Street  with  our  friend  here,  and  remaining  with  him  until  I 
see  you  again.  It  is  fortunate  that  you  are  old  school-fellows, 
as  you  must  have  much  to  talk  over.  Mr.  Phelps  can  have 
the  spare  bedroom  to-night,  and  I  will  be  with  you  in  time 
for  breakfast,  for  there  is  a  train  which  will  take  me  into 
Waterloo  at  eight." 

"  But  how  about  our  investigation  in  London  ?"  asked 
Phelps,  ruefully. 

"  W*  can  do  that  to-morrow.  I  think  that  just  at  present 
I  can  be  of  more  immediate  use  here." 


THE    NAVAL    TREATY  22Q 

"  You  might  tell  them  at  Briarbrae  that  I  hope  to  be  back 
to-morrow  night,"  cried  Phelps,  as  we  began  to  move  from 
the  platform. 

"  I  hardly  expect  to  go  back  to  Briarbrae,"  answered 
Holmes,  and  waved  his  hand  to  us  cheerily  as  we  shot  out 
from  the  station. 

Phelps  and  I  talked  it  over  on  our  journey,  but  neither 
of  us  could  devise  a  satisfactory  reason  for  this  new  develop- 
ment 

"  I  suppose  he  wants  to  find  out  some  clue  as  to  the  bur- 
glary last  night,  if  a  burglar  it  was.  For  myself,  I  don't  be- 
lieve it  was  an  ordinary  thief." 

"  What  is  your  own  idea,  then  ?" 

"  Upon  my  word,  you  may  put  it  down  to  my  weak  nerves 
or  not,  but  I  believe  there  is  some  deep  political  intrigue 
going  on  around  me,  and  that  for  some  reason  that  passes 
my  understanding  my  life  is  aimed  at  by  the  conspirators. 
It  sounds  high-flown  and  absurd,  but  consider  the  facts ! 
Why  should  a  thief  try  to  break  in  at  a  bedroom  window, 
where  there  could  be  no  hope  of  any  plunder,  and  why 
should  he  come  with  a  long  knife  in  his  hand  ?" 

"  You  are  sure  it  was  not  a  house-breaker's  jimmy  ?" 

"  Oh,  no,  it  was  a  knife.  I  saw  the  flash  of  the  blade  quite 
distinctly." 

"  But  why  on  earth  should  you  be  pursued  with  such 
animosity  ?" 

"  Ah,  that  is  the  question." 

"  Well,  if  Holmes  takes  the  same  view,  that  would  account 
fox  his  action,  would  it  not  ?  Presuming  that  your  theory  is 
correct,  if  he  can  lay  his  hands  upon  the  man  who  threatened 
you  last  night  he  will  have  gone  a  long  way  towards  finding 
who  took  the  naval  treaty.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  you 
have  two  enemies,  one  of  whom  robs  you,  while  the  other 
threatens  your  life." 

"  But  Holmes  said  that  he  was  not  going  to  Briarbrae." 

"  I  have  known  him  for  some  time,"  said  I,  "  but  I  never 


230  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

knew  him  do  anything  yet  without  a  very  good  reason/ 
and  with  that  our  conversation  drifted  off  on  to  other  topics. 
But  it  was  a  weary  day  for  me.  Phelps  was  still  weak 
after  his  long  illness,  and  his  misfortunes  made  him  queru- 
lous and  nervous.  In  vain  I  endeavored  to  interest  him  in 
Afghanistan,  in  India,  in  social  questions,  in  anything  which 
might  take  his  mind  out  of  the  groove.  He  would  always 
come  back  to  his  lost  treaty,  wondering,  guessing,  specu- 
lating as  to  what  Holmes  was  doing,  what  steps  Lord  Hold- 
hurst  was  taking,  what  news  we  should  have  in  the  morn- 
ing. As  the  evening  wore  on  his  excitement  became  quite 
painful. 

"You  have  implicit  faith  in  Holmes?"  he  asked. 
"  I  have  seen  him  do  some  remarkable  things." 
"  But  he  never  brought  light  into  anything  quite  so  dark 
as  this  ?" 

"Oh.  yes;  I  have  known  him  solve  questions  which  pre- 
sented fewer  clues  than  yours." 

"  But  not  where  such  large  interests  are  at  stake  ?'' 
"  I  don't  know  that.     To  my  certain  knowledge  he  has 
acted  on  behalf  of  three  of  the  reigning  houses  of  Europe 
in  very  vital  matters." 

"  But  you  know  him  well,  Watson.     He  is  such  an  inscru- 
table fellow  that  I  never  quite  know  what  to  make  of  him. 
Do  you  think  he  is  hopeful  ?     Do  you  think  he  expects  to 
make  a  success  of  it  ?" 
"  He  has  said  nothing." 
"That  is  a  bad  sign." 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  have  noticed  that  when  he  is  off  the 
trail  he  generally  says  so.  It  is  when  he  is  on  a  scent  and 
is  not  quite  absolutely  sure  yet  that  it  is  the  right  one  that 
he  is  most  taciturn.  Now,  my  dear  fellow,  we  can't  help 
matters  by  making  ourselves  nervous  about  them,  so  let  me 
implore  you  to  go  to  bed  and  so  be  fresh  for  whatever  may 
await  us  to-morrow." 

I  was  able  at  last  to  persuade  my  companion  to  take  my 


THE   NAVAL    TREATY  231 

advice,  though  I  knew  from  his  excited  manner  that  there 
was  not  much  hope  of  sleep  for  him.  Indeed,  his  mood  was 
infectious,  for  I  lay  tossing  half  the  night  myself,  brooding 
over  this  strange  problem,  and  inventing,  a  hundred  theories, 
each  of  which  was  more  impossible  than  the  last.  Why  had 
Holmes  remained  at  Woking  ?  Why  had  he  asked  Miss  Har- 
rison to  remain  in  the  sick-room  all  day  ?  Why  had  he  been 
so  careful  not  to  inform  the  people  at  Briarbrae  that  he  in- 
tended to  remain  near  them  ?  I  cudgelled  my  brains  until 
I  fell  asleep  in  the  endeavor  to  find  some  explanation  which 
would  cover  all  these  facts. 

It  was  seven  o'clock  when  I  awoke,  and  I  set  off  at  once 
for  Phelps's  room,  to  find  him  haggard  and  spent  after  a 
sleepless  night.  His  first  question  was  whether  Holmes  had 
arrived  yet. 

"He'll  be  here  when  he  promised,"  said  I,  "and  not  an 
instant  sooner  or  later." 

And  my  words  were  true,  for  shortly  after  eight  a  hansom 
dashed  up  to  the  door  and  our  friend  got  out  of  it.  Standing 
in  the  window  we  saw  that  his  left  hand  was  swathed  in  a 
bandage  and  that  his  face  was  very  grim  and  pale.  He  en- 
tered the  house,  but  it  was  some  little  time  before  he  came 
upstairs. 

"  He  looks  like  a  beaten  man,"  cried  Phelps. 

I  was  forced  to  confess  that  he  was  right.  "  After  all," 
said  I,  "  the  clue  of  the  matter  lies  probably  here  in  town." 

Phelps  gave  a  groan. 

"  I  don't  know  how  it  is,"  said  he,  "  but  I  had  hoped  for 
so  much  from  his  return.  But  surely  his  hand  was  not  tied 
up  like  that  yesterday.  What  can  be  the  matter  ?'; 

"  You  are  not  wounded,  Holmes  ?"  I  asked,  as  my  friend 
entered  the  room. 

"Tut,  it  is  only  a  scratch  through  my  own  clumsiness,"  he 
answered,  nodding  his  good-mornings  to  us.  "  This  case  of 
yours,  Mr.  Phelps,  is  certainly  one  of  the  darkest  which  I 
have  ever  investigated." 


232  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  I  feared  that  you  would  find  it  beyond  you." 

"  It  has  been  a  most  remarkable  experience." 

"That  bandage  tells  of  adventures,"  said  I.  "Won't  you 
tell  us  what  has  happened  ?" 

"  After  breakfast,  my  dear  Watson.  Remember  that  I  have 
breathed  thirty  miles  of  Surrey  air  this  morning.  I  suppose 
that  there  has  been  no  answer  from  my  cabman  advertise- 
ment ?  Well,  well,  we  cannot  expect  to  score  every  time.'' 

The  table  was  all  laid,  and  just  as  I  was  about  to  ring  Mrs. 
Hudson  entered  with  the  tea  and  coffee.  A  few  minutes  later 
she  brought  in  three  covers,  and  we  all  drew  up  to  the  table, 
Holmes  ravenous,  I  curious,  and  Phelps  in  the  gloomiest 
state  of  depression. 

"  Mrs.  Hudson  has  risen  to  the  occasion,"  said  Holmes,  un- 
covering a  dish  of  curried  chicken.  "  Her  cuisine  is  a  little 
limited,  but  she  has  as  good  an  idea  of  breakfast  as  a  Scotch- 
woman. What  have  you  there,  Watson  ?" 

"  Ham  and  eggs,"  I  answered. 

"  Good !  What  are  you  going  to  take,  Mr.  Phelps — curried 
fowl  or  eggs,  or  will  you  help  yourself  ?" 

"Thank  you.     I  can  eat  nothing,"  said  Phelps. 

"  Oh,  come !     Try  the  dish  before  you." 

"  Thank  you,  I  would  really  rather  not." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Holmes,  with  a  mischievous  twinkle,  "  I 
suppose  that  you  have  no  objection  to  helping  me  ?" 

Phelps  raised  the  cover,  and  as  he  did  so  he  uttered  a 
scream,  and  sat  there  staring  with  a  face  as  white  as  the 
plate  upon  which  he  looked.  Across  the  centre  of  it  was 
lying  a  little  cylinder  of  blue-gray  paper.  He  caught  it  up, 
devoured  it  with  his  eyes,  and  then  danced  madly  about  the 
room,  pressing  it  to  his  bosom  and  shrieking  out  in  his  delight. 
Then  he  fell  back  into  an  arm-chair  so  limp  and  exhausted 
with  his  own  emotions  that  we  had  to  pour  brandy  down  his 
throat  to  keep  him  from  fainting. 

"  There !  there !"  said  Holmes,  soothingly,  patting  him 
upon  the  shoulder.  "  It  was  too  bad  to  spring  it  on  you  like 


THE   NAVAL    TREATY  233 

this,  but  Watson  here  will  tell  you  that  I  never  can  resist  a 
touch  of  the  dramatic." 

Phelps  seized  his  hand  and  kissed  it.  "  God  bless  you !* 
he  cried.  "  You  have  saved  my  honor." 

"  Well,  my  own  was  at  stake,  you  know,"  said  Holmes.  "  I 
assure  you  it  is  just  as  hateful  to  me  to  fail  in  a  case  as  it  can 
be  to  you  to  blunder  over  a  commission." 

Phelps  thrust  away  the  precious  document  into  the  inner 
most  pocket  of  his  coat. 

"  I  have  not  the  heart  to  interrupt  your  breakfast  any  fur- 
ther,  and  yet  I  am  dying  to  know  how  you  got  it  and  where 
it  was." 

Sherlock  Holmes  swallowed  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  the  ham  and  eggs.  Then  he  rose,  lit  his  pipe, 
and  settled  himself  down  into  his  chair. 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I  did  first,  and  how  I  came  to  do  it  af- 
terwards," said  he.  "After  leaving  you  at  the  station  I  went 
for  a  charming  walk  through  some  admirable  Surrey  scenery 
to  a  pretty  little  village  called  Ripley,  where  I  had  my  tea  at 
an  inn,  and  took  the  precaution  of  filling  my  flask  and  of  put- 
ting a  paper  of  sandwiches  in  my  pocket.  There  I  remained 
until  evening,  when  I  set  off  for  Woking  again,  and  found  my- 
self in  the  high-road  outside  Briarbrae  just  after  sunset. 

"  Well,  I  waited  until  the  road  was  clear — it  is  never  a  very 
frequented  one  at  any  time,  I  fancy — and  then  I  clambered 
over  the  fence  into  the  grounds." 

"  Surely  the  gate  was  open  !"  ejaculated  Phelps. 

"  Yes,  but  I  have  a  peculiar  taste  in  these  matters.  I  chose 
the  place  where  the  three  fir-trees  stand,  and  behind  their 
screen  I  got  over  without  the  least  chance  of  any  one  in  the 
house  being  able  to  see  me.  I  crouched  down  among  the 
bushes  on  the  other  side,  and  crawled  from  one  to  the  other 
— witness  the  disreputable  state  of  my  trouser  knees — until  I 
had  reached  the  clump  of  rhododendrons  just  opposite  to 
your  bedroom  window.  There  I  squatted  down  and  awaited 
developments. 


,234  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMKS 

"  The  blind  was  not  down  in  your  room,  and  I  could  see 
Miss  Harrison  sitting  there  reading  by  the  table.  It  was 
quarter-past  ten  when  she  closed  her  book,  fastened  the  shut- 
ters, and  retired. 

"  I  heard  her  shut  the  door,  and  felt  quite  sure  that  she  had 
turned  the  key  in  the  lock." 

"  The  key !"  ejaculated  Phelps. 

"Yes;  I  had  given  Miss  Harrison  instructions  to  lock  the 
door  on  the  outside  and  take  the  key  with  her  when  she  went 
to  bed.  She  carried  out  every  one  of  my  injunctions  to  the 
letter,  and  certainly  without  her  co-operation  you  would  not 
have  that  paper  in  your  coat-pocket.  She  departed  then  and 
the  lights  went  out,  and  I  was  left  squatting  in  the  rhododen- 
dron-bush. 

"  The  night  was  fine,  but  still  it  was  a  very  weary  vigil. 
Of  course  it  has  the  sort  of  excitement  about  it  that  the 
sportsman  feels  when  he  lies  beside  the  watercourse  and 
waits  for  the  big  game.  It  was  very  long,  though — almost 
as  long,  Watson,  as  when  you  and  I  waited  in  that  deadly 
room  when  we  looked  into  the  little  problem  of  the  Speckled 
Band.  There  was  a  church -clock  down  at  Woking  which 
struck  the  quarters,  and  I  thought  more  than  once  that  it 
had  stopped.  At  last,  however,  about  two  in  the  morning, 
I  suddenly  heard  the  gentle  sound  of  a  bolt  being  pushed 
back  and  the  creaking  of  a  key.  A  moment  later  the  ser- 
vants' door  was  opened,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Harrison  stepped 
out  into  the  moonlight." 

"  Joseph  !"  ejaculated  Phelps. 

"  He  was  bare-headed,  but  he  had  a  black  cloak  thrown 
over  his  shoulder,  so  that  he  could  conceal  his  face  in  an 
instant  if  there  were  any  alarm.  He  walked  on  tiptoe  under 
the  shadow  of  the  wall,  and  when  he  reached  the  window  he 
worked  a  long-bladed  knife  through  the  sash  and  pushed  back 
the  catch.  Then  he  flung  open  the  window,  and  putting  his 
knife  through  the  crack  in  the  shutters,  he  thrust  the  bar  up 
and  swung  them  open. 


THE   NAVAL   TREATY 


235 


"  From  where  I  lay  I  had  a  perfect  view  of  the  inside  of 
the  room  and  of  every  one  of  his  movements.  He  lit  the 
two  candles  which  stood  upon  the  mantelpiece,  and  then  he 
proceeded  to  turn  back  the  corner  of  the  carpet  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  door.  Presently  he  stooped  and  picked  out  a 
square  piece  of  board,  such  as  is  usually  left  to  enable  plumb- 
ers to  get  at  the  joints  of  the  gas-pipes.  This  one  covered, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  T  joint  which  gives  off  the  pipe  which 
supplies  the  kitchen  underneath.  Out  of  this  hiding-place 
he  drew  that  little  cylinder  of  paper,  pushed  down  the  board, 
rearranged  the  carpet,  blew  out  the  candles,  and  walked 
straight  into  my  arms  as  I  stood  waiting  for  him  outside  the 
window. 

"  Well,  he  has  rather  more  viciousness  than  I  gave  him 
credit  for,  has  Master  Joseph.  He  flew  at  me  with  his 
knife,  and  I  had  to  grass  him  twice,  and  got  a  cut  over  the 
knuckles,  before  I  had  the  upper  hand  of  him.  He  looked 
murder  out  of  the  only  eye  he  could  see  with  when  we  had 
finished,  but  he  listened  to  reason  and  gave  up  the  papers. 
Having  got  them  I  let  my  man  go,  but  I  wired  full  partic- 
ulars to  Forbes  this  morning.  If  he  is  quick  enough  to 
catch  his  bird,  well  and  good.  But  if,  as  I  shrewdly  sus- 
pect, he  finds  the  nest  empty  before  he  gets  there,  why,  all 
the  better  for  the  government.  I  fancy  that  Lord  Hold- 
hurst  for  one,  and  Mr.  Percy  Phelps  for  another,  would  very 
much  rather  that  the  affair  never  got  as  far  as  a  police- 
court." 

"  My  God !"  gasped  our  client.  "  Do  you  tell  me  that  dur- 
ing these  long  ten  weeks  of  agony  the  stolen  papers  were 
within  the  very  room  with  me  all  the  time  ?" 

"  So  it  was." 

"  And  Joseph  !     Joseph  a  villain  and  a  thief !" 

"  Hum  !  I  am  afraid  Joseph's  character  is  a  rather  deeper 
and  more  dangerous  one  than  one  might  judge  from  his  ap- 
pearance. From  what  I  have  heard  from  him  this  morning, 
I  gather  that  he  has  lost  heavily  in  dabbling  with  stocks,  and 


236  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

that  he  is  ready  to  do  anything  on  earth  to  better  his  fort 
unes.  Being  an  absolutely  selfish  man,  when  a  chance  pre- 
sented itself  he  did  not  allow  either  his  sister's  happiness  or 
your  reputation  to  hold  his  hand." 

Percy  Phelps  sank  back  in  his  chair.  "  My  head  whirls," 
said  he.  "Your  words  have  dazed  me." 

"  The  principal  difficulty  in  your  case,"  remarked  Holmes, 
in  his  didactic  fashion,  "lay  in  the  fact  of  there  being  too 
much  evidence.  What  was  vital  was  overlaid  and  hidden  by 
what  was  irrelevant.  Of  all  the  facts  which  were  presented 
to  us  we  had  to  pick  just  those  which  we  deemed  to  be  essen- 
tial, and  then  piece  them  together  in  their  order,  so  as  to  re- 
construct this  very  remarkable  chain  of  events.  I  had  al- 
ready begun  to  suspect  Joseph,  from  the  fact  that  you  had 
intended  to  travel  home  with  him  that  night,  and  that  there- 
fore it  was  a  likely  enough  thing  that  he  should  call  for  you, 
knowing  the  Foreign  Office  well,  upon  his  way.  When  I  heard 
that  some  one  had  been  so  anxious  to  get  into  the  bedroom, 
in  which  no  one  but  Joseph  could  have  concealed  anything 
— you  told  us  in  your  narrative  how  you  had  turned  Joseph 
out  when  you  arrived  with  the  doctor  —  my  suspicions  all 
changed  to  certainties,  especially  as  the  attempt  was  made 
on  the  first  night  upon  which  the  nurse  was  absent,  showing 
that  the  intruder  was  well  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  the 
house." 

"  How  blind  I  have  been  1" 

"  The  facts  of  the  case,  as  far  as  I  have  worked  them  out, 
are  these :  this  Joseph  Harrison  entered  the  office  through 
the  Charles  Street  door,  and  knowing  his  way  he  walked 
straight  into  your  room  the  instant  after  you  left  it.  Finding 
no  one  there  he  promptly  rang  the  bell,  and  at  the  instant 
that  he  did  so  his  eyes  caught  the  paper  upon  the  table.  A 
glance  showed  him  that  chance  had  put  in  his  way  a  State 
document  of  immense  value,  and  in  an  instant  he  had  thrust 
it  into  his  pocket  and  was  gone.  A  few  minutes  elapsed,  as 
you  remember,  before  the  sleepy  commissionnaire  drew  your 


THE   NAVAL  TREATY  237 

attention  to  the  bell,  and  those  were  just  enough  to  give  the 
thief  time  to  make  his  escape. 

"  He  made  his  way  to  Woking  by  the  first  train,  and  having 
examined  his  booty  and  assured  himself  that  it  really  was  of 
immense  value,  he  had  concealed  it  in  what  he  thought  was  a 
very  safe  place,  with  the  intention  of  taking  it  out  again  in  a 
day  or  two,  and  carrying  it  to  the  French  embassy,  or  wher- 
ever he  thought  that  a  long  price  was  to  be  had.  Then  came 
your  sudden  return.  He,  without  a  moment's  warning,  was 
bundled  out  of  his  room,  and  from  that  time  onward  there 
were  always  at  least  two  of  you  there  to  prevent  him  from  re- 
gaining his  treasure.  The  situation  to  him  must  have  been  a 
maddening  one.  But  at  last  he  thought  he  saw  his  chance. 
He  tried  to  steal  in,  but  was  baffled  by  your  wakefulness. 
You  may  remember  that  you  did  not  take  your  usual  draught 
that  night." 

"  I  remember." 

"I  fancy  that  he  had  taken  steps  to  make  that  draught 
efficacious,  and  that  he  quite  relied  upon  your  being  uncon- 
scious. Of  course,  I  understood  that  he  would  repeat  the  at- 
tempt whenever  it  could  be  done  with  safety.  Your  leaving 
the  room  gave  him  the  chance  he  wanted.  I  kept  Miss  Har- 
rison in  it  all  day  so  that  he  might  not  anticipate  us.  Then, 
having  given  him  the  idea  that  the  coast  was  clear,  I  kept 
guard  as  I  have  described.  I  already  knew  that  the  papers 
were  probably  in  the  room,  but  I  had  no  desire  to  rip  up  all 
the  planking  and  skirting  in  search  of  them.  I  let  him  take 
them,  therefore,  from  the  hiding-place,  and  so  saved  myself 
an  infinity  of  trouble.  Is  there  any  other  point  which  I  can 
make  clear  ?" 

"Why  did  he  try  the  window  on  the  first  occasion,"  I 
asked,  "  when  he  might  have  entered  by  the  door  ?" 

"  In  reaching  the  door  he  would  have  to  pass  seven  bed- 
rooms. On  the  other  hand,  he  could  get  out  on  to  the  lawn 
with  ease.  Anything  else  ?" 

"You  do  not  think,"  asked  Phelps.  "that  he  had  any 


238  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK   HOLMES 

murderous    intention  ?     The    knife    was    only   meant    as    a 
tool." 

"It  may  be  so,"  answered  Holmes,  shrugging  his  shoul- 
ders. "  I  can  only  say  for  certain  that  Mr.  Joseph  Harrison 
is  a  gentleman  to  whose  mercy  I  should  be  extremely  unwill- 
ing to  trust" 


is  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I  take  up  my  pen 
to  write  these  the  last  words  in  which  I  shall 
ever  record  the  singular  gifts  by  which  my  friend 
Mr.  Sherlock  Holmes  was  distinguished.  In  an 
incoherent  and,  as  I  deeply  feel,  an  entirely  in- 
adequate fashion,  I  have  endeavored  to  give  some  account 
of  my  strange  experiences  in  his  company  from  the  chance 
which  first  brought  us  together  at  the  period  of  the  "  Study 
in  Scarlet,"  up  to  the  time  of  his  interference  in  the  matter 
of  the  "  Naval  Treaty  " — an  interference  which  had  the  un- 
questionable effect  of  preventing  a  serious  international  com- 
plication. It  was  my  intention  to  have  stopped  there,  and 
to  have  said  nothing  of  that  event  which  has  created  a  void 
in  my  life  which  the  lapse  of  two  years  has  done  little  to  fill 
My  hand  has  been  forced,  however,  by  the  recent  letters  in 
which  Colonel  James  Moriarty  defends  the  memory  of  his 
brother,  and  I  have  no  choice  but  to  lay  the  facts  before  the 
public  exactly  as  they  occurred.  I  alone  know  the  absolute 
truth  of  the  matter,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  the  time  has  come 
when  no  good  purpose  is  to  be  served  by  its  suppression.  As 
far  as  I  know,  there  have  been  only  three  accounts  in  the 
public  press  :  that  in  the  Journal  de  Geneve  on  May  6th, 
1891,  the  Reuter's  despatch  in  the  English  papers  on  May 
7th.  and  finally  the  recent  letters  to  which  I  have  alluded. 
Of  these  the  first  and  second  were  extremely  condensed,  while 
the  last  is,  as  I  shall  now  show,  an  absolute  perversion  of  the 
£acts.  It  lies  with  me  to  tell  for  the  first  time  what  really 


240  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

took  place  between  Professor  Moriarty  and  Mr.  Sherlock 
Holmes. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  after  my  marriage,  and  my 
subsequent  start  in  private  practice,  the  very  intimate  rela- 
tions which  had  existed  between  Holmes  and  myself  became 
to  some  extent  modified.  He  still  came  to  me  from  time  to 
time  when  he  desired  a  companion  in  his  investigations,  but 
these  occasions  grew  more  and  more  seldom,  until  I  find  that 
in  the  year  1890  there  were  only  three  cases  of  which  I  retain 
any  record.  During  the  winter  of  that  year  and  the  early 
spring  of  1891, 1  saw  in  the  papers  that  he  had  been  engaged 
by  the  French  government  upon  a  matter  of  supreme  impor- 
tance, and  I  received  two  notes  from  Holmes,  dated  from  Nar- 
bonne  and  from  Nimes,  from  which  I  gathered  that  his  stay 
in  France  was  likely  to  be  a  long  one.  It  was  with  some  sur- 
prise, therefore,  that  I  saw  him  walk  into  my  consulting-room 
upon  the  evening  of  April  24th.  It  struck  me  that  he  was 
looking  even  paler  and  thinner  than  usual. 

"Yes,  I  have  been  using  myself  up  rather  too  freely,"  he 
remarked,  in  answer  to  my  look  rather  than  to  my  words  ;  "  I 
have  been  a  little  pressed  of  late.  Have  you  any  objection  to 
my  closing  your  shutters  ?" 

The  only  light  in  the  room  came  from  the  lamp  upon  the 
table  at  which  I  had  been  reading.  Holmes  edged  his  way 
round  the  wall,  and  flinging  the  shutters  together,  he  bolted 
them  securely. 

;'  You  are  afraid  of  something  ?"  1  asked. 

"Well,  I  am." 

;'  Of  what  ?' 

"  Of  air-guns. 

"  My  dear  Holmes,  what  do  you  mean  .'' 

"  I  think  that  you  know  me  well  enough,  Watson,  to 
understand  that  I  am  by  no  means  a  nervous  man.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  stupidity  rather  than  courage  to  re- 
fuse to  recognize  danger  when  it  is  close  upon  you.  Might 
I  trouble  you  for  a  match  ?"  He  drew  in  the  smoke  of 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  241 

his  cigarette  :i  if  the  soothing  influence  was  grateful  to 
him. 

"  I  must  apologize  for  calling  so  late,"  said  he,  "  and  I  must 
further  beg  you  to  be  so  unconventional  as  to  allow  me  to 
leave  your  house  presently  by  scrambling  over  your  back  gar- 
den wail." 

"  But  what  does  it  all  mean  ?"  I  asked. 

He  held  out  his  hand,  and  I  saw  in  the  light  of  the  lamp 
that  two  of  his  knuckles  were  burst  and  bleeding. 

"  It's  not  an  airy  nothing,  you  see,"  said  he,  smiling.  "  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  solid  enough  for  a  man  to  break  his  hand 
over.  Is  Mrs.  Watson  in  ?" 

"  She  is  away  upon  a  visit." 

"  Indeed  !     You  are  alone  ?" 

"Quite." 

"Then  it  makes  it  the  easier  for  me  to  propose  that  yon 
should  come  away  with  me  for  a  week  to  the  Continent." 

"  Where  ?" 

"  Oh,  anywhere.     It's  all  the  same  to  me." 

There  was  something  very  strange  in  all  this.  It  was  not 
Holmes's  nature  to  take  an  aimless  holiday,  and  something 
about  his  pale,  worn  face  told  me  that  his  nerves  were  at  their 
highest  tension.  He  saw  the  question  in  my  eyes,  and,  put- 
ting his  finger-tips  together  and  his  elbows  upon  his  knees,  he 
explained  the  situation. 

"You  have  probably  never  heard  of  Professor  Moriarty*'? 
said  he. 

"  Never." 

"  Aye,  there's  the  genius  and  the  wonder  of  the  thing !"  he 
cried.  "  The  man  pervades  London,  and  no  one  has  heard  of 
him.  That's  what  puts  him  on  a  pinnacle  in  the  records  of 
crime.  I  tell  you,  Watson,  in  all  seriousness,  that  if  I  could 
beat  that  man,  if  I  could  free  society  of  him,  I  should  feel  that 
my  own  career  had  reached  its  summit,  and  I  should  be  pre- 
pared to  turn  to  some  more  placid  line  in  life.  Between  our- 
selves, the  recent  cases  in  which  I  have  been  of  assistance 


242  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

to  the  royal  family  of  Scandinavia,  and  to  the  French  re- 
public, have  left  me  in  such  a  position  that  I  could  con- 
tinue to  live  in  the  quiet  fashion  which  is  most  congenial  to 
me,  and  to  concentrate  my  attention  upon  my  chemical  re- 
searches. But  I  could  not  rest,  Watson,  I  could  not  sit  quiet 
in  my  chair,  if  I  thought  that  such  a  man  as  Professor  Mori- 
arty  were  walking  the  streets  of  London  unchallenged." 

"  What  has  he  done,  then  ?" 

"  His  career  has  been  an  extraordinary  one.  He  is  a  man 
of  good  birth  and  excellent  education,  endowed  by  nature 
with  a  phenomenal  mathematical  faculty.  At  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-one he  wrote  a  treatise  upon  the  Binomial  Theorem,  which 
has  had  a  European  vogue.  On  the  strength  of  it  he  won  the 
Mathematical  Chair  at  one  of  our  smaller  universities,  and 
had,  to  all  appearances,  a  most  brilliant  career  before  him. 
But  the  man  had  hereditary  tendencies  of  the  most  diabolical 
kind.  A  criminal  strain  ran  in  his  blood,  which,  instead  of 
being  modified,  was  increased  and  rendered  infinitely  more 
dangerous  by  his  extraordinary  mental  powers.  Dark  rumors 
gathered  round  him  in  the  university  town,  and  eventually  he 
was  compelled  to  resign  his  chair  and  to  come  down  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  set  up  as  an  army  coach.  So  much  is  known 
to  the  world,  but  what  I  am  telling  you  now  is  what  I  have 
myself  discovered. 

"  As  you  are  aware,  Watson,  there  is  no  one  who  knows  the 
higher  criminal  world  of  London  so  well  as  I  do.  For  years 
past  I  have  continually  been  conscious  of  some  power  behind 
the  malefactor,  some  deep  organizing  power  which  forever 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  law,  and  throws  its  shield  over  the 
wrong-doer.  Again  and  again  in  cases  of  the  most  varying 
sorts — forgery  cases,  robberies,  murders — I  have  felt  the  pres- 
ence of  this  force,  and  I  have  deduced  its  action  in  many  of 
those  undiscovered  crimes  in  which  I  have  not  been  person- 
ally consulted.  For  years  I  have  endeavored  to  break  through 
the  veil  which  shrouded  it,  and  at  last  the  time  came  when  I 
seized  my  thread  and  followed  it,  until  it  led  me,  after  a  thou- 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  243 

sand  cunning  windings,  to  ex-Professor  Moriarty  of.  mathemat- 
ical celebrity. 

"  He  is  the  Napoleon  of  crime,  Watson.  He  is  the  organ- 
izer of  half  that  is  evil  and  of  nearly  all  that  is  undetected 
in  this  great  city.  He  is  a  genius,  a  philosopher,  an  abstract 
thinker.  He  has  a  brain  of  the  first  order.  He  sits  motion- 
less, like  a  spider  in  the  centre  of  its  web,  but  that  web  has  a 
thousand  radiations,  and  he  knows  well  every  quiver  of  each 
of  them.  He  does  little  himself.  He  only  plans.  But  his 
agents  are  numerous  and  splendidly  organized.  Is  there  a 
crime  to  be  done,  a  paper  to  be  abstracted,  we  will  say,  a  house 
to  be  rifled,  a  man  to  be  removed — the  word  is  passed  to  the 
Professor,  the  matter  is  organized  and  carried  out.  The 
agent  may  be  caught.  In  that  case  money  is  found  for  his 
bail  or  his  defence.  But  the  central  power  which  uses  the 
agent  is  never  caught — never  so  much  as  suspected.  This 
was  the  organization  which  I  deduced,  Watson,  and  which  I 
devoted  my  whole  energy  to  exposing  and  breaking  up. 

"  But  the  Professor  was  fenced  round  with  safeguards  so 
cunningly  devised  that,  do  what  I  would,  it  seemed  impossible 
to  get  evidence  which  would  convict  in  a  court  of  law.  You 
know  my  powers,  my  dear  Watson,  and  yet  at  the  end  of 
three  months  I  was  forced  to  confess  that  I  had  at  last  met 
an  antagonist  who  was  my  intellectual  equal.  My  horror  at 
his  crimes  was  lost  in  my  admiration  at  his  skill.  But  at  last 
he  made  a  trip — only  a  little,  little  trip — but  it  was  more  than 
he  could  afford,  when  I  was  so  close  upon  him.  I  had  my 
chance,  and,  starting  from  that  point,  I  have  woven  my  net 
round  him  until  now  it  is  all  ready  to  close.  In  three  days — 
that  is  to  say,  on  Monday  next — matters  will  be  ripe,  and  the 
Professor,  with  all  the  principal  members  of  his  gang,  will  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  police.  Then  will  come  the  greatest  crim- 
inal trial  of  the  century,  the  clearing  up  of  over  forty  myste- 
ries, and  the  rope  for  all  of  them ;  but  if  we  move  at  all  pre- 
maturely, you  understand,  they  may  slip  out  of  our  hands 
even  at  the  last  moment. 


344  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

"  Now,  if  I  could  have  done  this  without  the  knowledge  of 
Professor  Moriarty,  all  would  have  been  well.  But  he  was  too 
wily  for  that.  He  saw  every  step  which  I  took  to  draw  my 
toils  round  him.  Again  and  again  he  strove  to  break  away, 
but  I  as  often  headed  him  off.  I  tell  you,  my  friend,  that  if  a 
detailed  account  of  that  silent  contest  could  be  written,  it 
would  take  its  place  as  the  most  brilliant  bit  of  thrust-and- 
parry  work  in  the  history  of  detection.  Never  have  I  risen 
to  such  a  height,  and  never  have  I  been  so  hard  pressed  by 
an  opponent.  He  cut  deep,  and  yet  I  just  undercut  him. 
This  morning  the  last  steps  were  taken,  and  three  days  only 
were  wanted  to  complete  the  business.  I  was  sitting  in  my 
room  thinking  the  matter  over,  when  the  door  opened  and 
Professor  Moriarty  stood  before  me. 

"  My  nerves  are  fairly  proof,  Watson,  but  I  must  confess  to 
a  start  when  I  saw  the  very  man  who  had  been  so  much  in 
my  thoughts  standing  there  on  my  threshold.  His  appear- 
ance was  quite  familiar  to  me.  He  is  extremely  tall  and  thin, 
his  forehead  domes  out  in  a  white  curve,  and  his  two  eyes  are 
deeply  sunken  in  his  head.  He  is  clean-shaven,  pale,  and  as- 
cetic-looking, retaining  something  of  the  professor  in  his  feat- 
ures. His  shoulders  are  rounded  from  much  study,  and  his 
face  protrudes  forward,  and  is  forever  slowly  oscillating  from 
side  to  side  in  a  curiously  reptilian  fashion.  He  peered  at 
me  with  great  curiosity  in  his  puckered  eyes. 

" '  You  have  less  frontal  development  than  I  should  have 
expected,'  said  he,  at  last.  '  It  is  a  dangerous  habit  to  ringer 
loaded  firearms  in  the  pocket  of  one's  dressing-gown.' 

"  The  fact  is  that  upon  his  entrance  I  had  instantly  recog- 
nized the  extreme  personal  danger  in  which  I  lay.  The  only 
conceivable  escape  for  him  lay  in  silencing  my  tongue.  In 
an  instant  I  had  slipped  the  revolver  from  the  drawer  into 
my  pocket,  and  was  covering  him  through  the  cloth.  At  his 
remark  I  drew  the  weapon  out  and  laid  it  cocked  upon  the 
table.  He  still  smiled  and  blinked,  but  there  was  something 
about  his  eyes  which  made  me  feel  very  glad  that  I  had  it  there 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  345 

"'You  evidently  don't  know  me,'  said  he. 

"  '  On  the  contrary,'  I  answered,  '  I  think  it  is  fairly  evident 
that  I  do.  Pray  take  a  chair.  I  can  spare  you  five  minutes 
if  you  have  anything  to  say.' 

" '  All  that  I  have  to  say  has  already  crossed  your  mind,' 
said  he. 

" '  Then  possibly  my  answer  has  crossed  yours,'  I  replied. 

" '  You  stand  fast  ?' 

"'Absolutely.' 

"  He  clapped  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  and  I  raised  the 
pistol  from  the  table.  But  he  merely  drew  out  a  memoran- 
dum-book in  which  he  had  scribbled  some  dates. 

"  *  You  crossed  my  path  on  the  4th  of  January,'  said  he. 
'  On  the  2jd  you  incommoded  me  ;  by  the  middle  of  Febru- 
ary I  was  seriously  inconvenienced  by  you ;  at  the  end  of 
March  I  was  absolutely  hampered  in  my  plans ;  and  now,  at 
the  close  of  April,  I  find  myself  placed  in  such  a  position 
through  your  continual  persecution  that  I  am  in  positive  dan- 
ger of  losing  my  liberty.  The  situation  is  becoming  an  im- 
possible one.' 

"  '  Have  you  any  suggestion  to  make  ?'  I  asked. 

"  '  You  must  drop  it,  Mr.  Holmes,'  said  he,  swaying  his  face 
about.  'You  really  must,  you  know.' 

"  '  After  Monday,'  said  I. 

" '  Tut,  tut !'  said  he.  '  I  am  quite  sure  that  a  man  of  your 
intelligence  will  see  that  there  can  be  but  one  outcome  to  this 
affair.  It  is  necessary  that  you  should  withdraw.  You  have 
worked  things  in  such  a  fashion  that  we  have  only  one  re- 
source left.  It  has  been  an  intellectual  treat  to  me  to  see 
the  way  in  which  you  have  grappled  with  this  affair,  and  I 
say,  unaffectedly,  that  it  would  be  a  grief  to  me  to  be  forced 
to  take  any  extreme  measure.  You  smile,  sir,  but  I  assure 
you  that  it  really  would.' 

" '  Danger  is  part  of  my  trade,'  I  remarked. 

"  '  This  is  not  danger,'  said  he.  '  It  is  inevitable  destruc- 
tion. You  stand  in  the  way  not  merely  of  an  individual,  but 


24&  MEMOIRS    OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

of  a  mighty  organization,  the  full  extent  of  which  you,  with 
all  your  cleverness,  have  been  unable  to  realize.  You  must 
stand  clear,  Mr.  Holmes,  or  be  trodden  under  foot.' 

" '  I  am  afraid,'  said  I,  rising,  '  that  in  the  pleasure  of  this 
conversation  I  am  neglecting  business  of  importance  which 
awaits  me  elsewhere.' 

"  He  rose  also  and  looked  at  me  in  silence,  shaking  his 
head  sadly. 

" '  Well,  well,'  said  he,  at  last.  '  It  seems  a  pity,  but  I  have 
done  what  I  could.  I  know  every  move  of  your  game.  You 
can  do  nothing  before  Monday.  It  has  been  a  duel  between 
you  and  me,  Mr.  Holmes.  You  hope  to  place  me  in  the  dock. 
I  tell  you  that  I  will  never  stand  in  the  dock.  You  hope  to 
beat  me.  I  tell  you  that  you  will  never  beat  me.  If  you  are 
clever  enough  to  bring  destruction  upon  me,  rest  assured  that 
I  shall  do  as  much  to  you.' 

" '  You  have  paid  me  several  compliments,  Mr.  Moriarty,' 
said  I.  '  Let  me  pay  you  one  in  return  when  I  say  that  if  I 
were  assured  of  the  former  eventuality  I  would,  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  public,  cheerfully  accept  the  latter.' 

"  '  I  can  promise  you  the  one,  but  not  the  other,'  he  snarled, 
and  so  turned  his  rounded  back  upon  me,  and  went  peering 
and  blinking  out  of  the  room. 

"That  was  my  singular  interview  with  Professor  Moriarty. 
I  confess  that  it  left  an  unpleasant  effect  upon  my  mind. 
His  soft,  precise  fashion  of  speech  leaves  a  conviction  of  sin- 
cerity which  a  mere  bully  could  not  produce.  Of  course,  you 
will  say :  '  Why  not  take  police  precautions  against  him  ?' 
The  reason  is  that  I  am  well  convinced  that  it  is  from  his 
agents  the  blow  would  fall.  I  have  the  best  of  proofs  that  it 
would  be  so." 

"  You  have  already  been  assaulted  ?" 

"  My  dear  Watson,  Professor  Moriarty  is  not  a  man  who 
lets  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet.  I  went  out  about  mid-day 
to  transact  tome  business  in  Oxford  Street.  As  I  passed  the 
corner  which  leads  from  Bentinck  Street  on  to  the  Welbeck 


THE   FINAL    PROBLEM  247 

Street  crossing  a  two -horse  van  furiously  driven  whizzed 
round  and  was  on  me  like  a  flash.  I  sprang  for  the  foot-path 
and  saved  myself  by  the  fraction  of  a  second.  The  van 
dashed  round  by  Marylebone  Lane  and  was  gone  in  an  in- 
stant. I  kept  to  the  pavement  after  that,  Watson,  but  as  I 
walked  down  Vere  Street  a  brick  came  down  from  the  roof  of 
one  of  the  houses,  and  was  shattered  to  fragments  at  my  feet 
I  called  the  police  and  had  the  place  examined.  There  were 
slates  and  bricks  piled  up  on  the  roof  preparatory  to  some  re- 
pairs, and  they  would  have  me  believe  that  the  wind  had  top- 
pled over  one  of  these.  Of  course  I  knew  better,  but  I  could 
prove  nothing.  I  took  a  cab  after  that  and  reached  my 
brother's  rooms  in  Pall  Mall,  where  I  spent  the  day.  Now  I 
have  come  round  to  you,  and  on  my  way  I  was  attacked  by  a 
rough  with  a  bludgeon.  I  knocked  him  down,  and  the  police 
have  him  in  custody  ;  but  I  can  tell  you  with  the  most  abso- 
lute confidence  that  no  possible  connection  will  ever  be  traced 
between  the  gentleman  upon  whose  front  teeth  I  have  barked 
my  knuckles  and  the  retiring  mathematical  coach,  who  is,  I 
dare  say,  working  out  problems  upon  a  black-board  ten  miles 
away.  You  will  not  wonder,  Watson,  that  my  first  act  on  en- 
tering your  rooms  was  to  close  your  shutters,  and  that  I  have 
been  compelled  to  ask  your  permission  to  leave  the  house  by 
some  less  conspicuous  exit  than  the  front  door." 

I  had  often  admired  my  friend's  courage,  but  never  more 
than  now,  as  he  sat  quietly  checking  off  a  series  of  incidents 
which  must  have  combined  to  make  up  a  day  of  horror. 

"  You  will  spend  the  night  here  ?"  I  said. 

"  No,  my  friend,  you  might  find  me  a  dangerous  guest.  I 
have  my  plans  laid,  and  all  will  be  well.  Matters  have  gone 
so  far  now  that  they  can  move  without  my  help  as  far  as  the 
arrest  goes,  though  my  presence  is  necessary  for  a  conviction. 
It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  get  away 
for  the  few  days  which  remain  before  the  police  are  at  liberty 
to  act.  It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me,  therefore,  if  you 
could  come  on  to  the  Continent  with  me." 


248  MIMOIK?    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES  • 

"The  practice  is  quiet."  said  I,  "and  I  have  an  accommo- 
dating neighbor.  I  should  be  glad  to  come." 

"  And  to  start  to-morrow  morning  ?" 

"  If  necessary." 

"  Oh  yes,  it  is  most  necessary.  Then  these  are  your  in- 
structions, and  I  beg,  my  dear  Watson,  that  you  will  obey  them 
to  the  letter,  for  you  are  now  playing  a  double-handed  game 
with  me  against  the  cleverest  rogue  and  the  most  powerful 
syndicate  of  criminals  in  Europe.  Now  listen  !  You  will  de- 
spatch whatever  luggage  you  intend  to  take  by  a  trusty  mes- 
senger unaddressed  to  Victoria  to-night.  In  the  morning  you 
will  send  for  a  hansom,  desiring  your  man  to  take  neither  the 
first  nor  the  second  which  may  present  itself.  Into  this  han- 
som you  will  jump,  and  you  will  drive  to  the  Strand  end  of 
the  Lowther  Arcade,  handing  the  address  to  the  cabman  upon 
a  slip  of  paper,  with  a  request  that  he  will  not  throw  it  away. 
Have  your  fare  ready,  and  the  instant  that  your  cab  stops, 
dash  through  the  Arcade,  timing  yourself  to  reach  the  other 
side  at  a  quarter-past  nine.  You  will  find  a  small  brougham 
waiting  close  to  the  curb,  driven  by  a  fellow  with  a  heavy 
black  cloak  tipped  at  the  collar  with  red.  Into  this  you  will 
step,  and  you  will  reach  Victoria  in  time  for  the  Continental 
express." 

"  Where  shall  I  meet  you  ?" 

"  At  the  station.  The  second  first-class  carriage  from  the 
front  will  be  reserved  for  us." 

:<  The  carriage  is  our  rendezvous,  then  ?" 

r'Yes." 

It  was  in  vain  that  I  asked  Holmes  to  remain  for  the  even- 
ing. It  was  evident  to  me  that  he  thought  he  might  bring 
trouble  to  the  roof  he  was  under,  and  that  that  was  the  mo- 
tive which  impelled  him  to  go.  With  a  few  hurried  words  as 
to  our  plans  for  the  morrow  he  rose  and  came  out  with  me  into 
the  garden,  clambering  over  the  wall  which  leads  into  Morti- 
xner  Street,  and  immediately  whistling  for  a  hansom,  in  which 
I  heard  him  drive  away. 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  249 

In  the  morning  I  obeyed  Holmes's  injunctions  to  the  letter. 
A  hansom  was  procured  with  such  precautions  as  would  pre- 
vent its  being  one  which  was  placed  ready  for  us,  and  I  drove 
immediately  after  breakfast  to  the  Lowther  Arcade,  through 
which  I  hurried  at  the  top  of  my  speed.  A  brougham  was 
waiting  with  a  very  massive  driver  wrapped  in  a  dark  cloak, 
who,  the  instant  that  I  had  stepped  in,  whipped  up  the  horse 
and  rattled  off  to  Victoria  Station.  On  my  alighting  there  he 
turned  the  carriage,  and  dashed  away  again  without  so  much 
as  a  look  in  my  direction. 

So  far  all  had  gone  admirably.  My  luggage  was  waiting 
for  me,  and  I  had  ^o  difficulty  in  rinding  the  carriage  which 
Holmes  had  indicated,  the  less  so  as  it  was  the  only  one  in 
the  train  which  was  marked  "  Engaged."  My  only  source  of 
anxiety  now  was  the  non-appearance  of  Holmes.  The  station 
clock  marked  only  seven  minutes  from  the  time  when  we  were 
due  to  start.  In  vain  I  searched  among  the  groups  of  travel- 
lers and  leave  takers  for  the  lithe  figure  of  my  friend.  There 
was  no  sign  of  him.  I  spent  a  few  minutes  in  assisting  a  ven- 
erable Italian  priest,  who  was  endeavoring  to  make  a  porter 
understand,  in  his  broken  English,  that  his  luggage  was  to  be 
booked  through  to  Paris.  Then,  having  taken  another  look 
round,  I  returned  to  my  carriage,  where  I  found  that  the  por- 
ter, in  spite  of  the  ticket,  had  given  me  my  decrepit  Italian 
friend  as  a  travelling  companion.  It  was  useless  for  me  to 
explain  to  him  that  his  presence  was  an  intrusion,  for  my 
Italian  was  even  more  limited  than  his  English,  so  I  shrugged 
my  shoulders  resignedly,  and  continued  to  look  out  anxiously 
for  my  friend.  A  chill  of  fear  had  come  over  me,  as  I  thought 
\hat  his  absence  might  mean  that  some  blow  had  fallen  during 
ihe  night.  Already  the  doors  had  all  been  shut  and  the  whistle 
blown,  when — 

"My  dear  Watson, "said  a  voice,  "you  have  not  even  con- 
descended to  say  good-morning." 

I  turned  in  uncontrollable  astonishment.  The  aged  eccle- 
siastic had  turned  his  face  towards  me.  For  an  instant  the 


*50  MEMOIRS   OF   SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

wrinkles  were  smoothed  away,  the  nose  drew  away  from  the 
chin,  the  lower  lip  ceased  to  protrude  and  the  mouth  to  mum- 
ble, the  dull  eyes  regained  their  fire,  the  drooping  figure  ex- 
panded. The  next  the  whole  frame  collapsed  again,  and 
Holmes  had  gone  as  quickly  as  he  had  come. 

"  Good  heavens  !"  I  cried  ;  "  how  you  startled  me  !" 

"Every  precaution  is  still  necessary,"  he  whispered.  "I 
have  reason  to  think  that  they  are  hot  upon  our  trail.  Ah, 
there  is  Moriarty  himself." 

The  train  had  already  begun  to  move  as  Holmes  spoke. 
Glancing  back,  I  saw  a  tall  man  pushing  his  way  furiously 
through  the  crowd,  and  waving  his  hand  as  if  he  desired  to 
have  the  train  stopped.  It  was  too  late,  however,  for  we  were 
rapidly  gathering  momentum,  and  an  instant  later  had  shot 
clear  of  the  station. 

"  With  all  our  precautions,  you  see  that  we  have  cut  it  rather 
fine,"  said  Holmes,  laughing.  He  rose,  and  throwing  off  the 
black  cassock  and  hat  which  had  formed  his  disguise,  he 
packed  them  away  in  a  hand-bag. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  morning  paper,  Watson  ?" 

"  No." 

"  You  haven't  seen  about  Baker  Street,  then  ?" 

"  Baker  Street  ?" 

"  They  set  fire  to  our  rooms  last  night.  No  great  harm 
was  done." 

"  Good  heavens,  Holmes  !  this  is  intolerable." 

"They  must  have  lost  my  track  completely  after  their 
bludgeon-man  was  arrested.  Otherwise  they  could  not  have 
imagined  that  I  had  returned  to  my  rooms.  They  have  evi- 
dently taken  the  precaution  of  watching  you,  however,  and  that 
is  what  has  brought  Moriarty  to  Victoria.  You  could  not  have 
made  any  slip  in  coming  ?" 

"  I  did  exactly  what  you  advised." 

"  Did  you  find  your  brougham  ?" 

"Yes,  it  was  waiting." 

'•  Did  you  recognize  your  coachman  ?" 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  2gl 

"  NO." 

"It  was  my  brother  Mycroft.  It  is  an  advantage  to  get 
about  in  such  a  case  without  taking  a  mercenary  into  your 
confidence.  But  we  must  plan  what  we  are  to  do  about 
Moriarty  now." 

•'  As  this  is  an  express,  and  as  the  boat  runs  in  connec- 
tion with  it,  I  should  think  we  have  shaken  him  off  very 
effectively." 

"  My  dear  Watson,  you  evidently  did  not  realize  my  mean- 
ing when  I  said  that  this  man  may  be  taken  as  being  quite  on 
the  same  intellectual  plane  as  myself.     You  do  not  imagine 
that  if  I  were  the  pursuer  I  should  allow  myself  to  be  baffled 
by  so  slight  an  obstacle.     Why,  then,  should  you  think  so 
meanly  of  him  ?" 
"  What  will  he  do  ?" 
"  What  I  should  do." 
"  What  would  you  do,  then  ?" 
"  Engage  a  special." 
"  But  it  must  be  late." 

"  By  no  means.  This  train  stops  at  Canterbury ;  and  there 
is  always  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  delay  at  the  boat. 
He  will  catch  us  there." 

"One  would  think  that  we  were  the  criminals.  Let  us 
have  him  arrested  on  his  arrival." 

"  It  would  be  to  ruin  the  work  of  three  months.    We  should 
get  the  big  fish,  but  the  smaller  would  dart  right  and  left  out 
of  the  net.    On  Monday  we  should  have  them  all.    No,  an  ar- 
rest is  inadmissible." 
"What  then?" 

"  We  shall  get  out  at  Canterbury." 
"And  then?" 

"  Well,  then  we  must  make  a  cross-country  journey  to  New- 
haven,  and  so  over  to  Dieppe.  Moriarty  will  again  do  what 
I  should  do.  He  will  get  on  to  Paris,  mark  down  our  lug- 
gage, and  wait  for  two  days  at  the  depot.  In  the  meantime 
we  shall  treat  ourselves  to  a  couple  of  carpet-bags,  encourage 


f52  MEMOIRS    OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

the  manufactures  of  the  countries  througV  which  we  travel, 
and  make  our  way  at  our  leisure  into  Switzerland,  via  Luxem- 
bourg and  Easle." 

At  Canterbury,  therefore,  we  alighted,  only  to  find  that  we 
should  have  to  wait  an  hour  before  we  could  get  a  train  to 
Newhaven. 

I  was  still  looking  rather  ruefully  after  the  rapidly  disap- 
pearing luggage- van  which  contained  my  wardrobe,  when 
Holmes  pulled  my  sleeve  and  pointed  up  the  line. 

"  Already,  you  see,"  said  he. 

Far  away,  from  among  the  Kentish  woods  there  rose  a  thin 
spray  of  smoke.  A  minute  later  a  carriage  and  engine  could 
be  seen  flying  along  the  open  curve  which  leads  to  the  station. 
We  had  hardly  time  to  take  our  place  behind  a  pile  of  luggage 
when  it  passed  with  a  rattle  and  a  roar,  beating  a  blast  of  hot 
air  into  our  faces. 

"  There  he  goes,"  said  Holmes,  as  we  watched  the  carriage 
swing  and  rock  over  the  points.  "  There  are  limits,  you  see,  to 
our  friend's  intelligence.  It  would  have  been  a  coup-de-maitre 
had  he  deduced  what  I  would  deduce  and  acted  accordingly." 

"  And  what  would  he  have  done  had  he  overtaken  us  ?" 

"  There  cannot  be  the  least  doubt  that  he  would  have  made 
a  murderous  attack  upon  me.  It  is,  however,  a  game  at  which 
two  may  play.  The  question  now  is  whether  we  should  take 
a  premature  lunch  here,  or  run  our  chance  of  starving  before 
we  reach  the  buffet  at  Newhaven." 

We  made  our  way  to  Brussels  that  night  and  spent  two  days 
there,  moving  on  upon  the  third  day  as  far  as  Strasburg.  On 
the  Monday  morning  Holmes  had  telegraphed  to  the  London 
police,  and  in  the  evening  we  found  a  reply  waiting  for  us  at 
our  hotel.  Holmes  tore  it  open,  and  then  with  a  bitter  curse 
hurled  it  into  the  grate. 

"  I  might  have  known  it  1"  he  groaned.  "  He  has  es- 
caped !" 

"  Moriarty  ?" 


.      THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  253 

"  They  have  secured  the  whole  gang  with  the  exception  ot 
him.  He  has  given  them  the  slip.  Of  course,  when  I  had 
/eft  the  country  there  was  no  one  to  cops  with  him.  But  I 
did  think  that  I  had  put  the  game  in  their  hands.  I  think 
that  you  had  better  return  to  England,  Watson." 

"  Why  ?" 

"  Because  you  will  find  me  a  dangerous  companion  now. 
This  man's  occupation  is  gone.  He  is  lost  it  he  returns  to 
London.  If  I  read  his  character  right  he  will  devote  his 
whole  energies  to  revenging  himself  upon  me.  He  said  as 
much  in  our  short  interview,  and  I  fancy  that  he  meant  it.  I 
should  certainly  recommend  you  to  return  to  your  practice." 

It  was  hardly  an  appeal  to  be  successful  with  one  who  was 
an  old  campaigner  as  well  as  an  old  friend.  We  sat  in  the 
Strasburg  sallc-H  manger  arguing  the  question  for  half  an  hour 
but  the  same  night  we  had  resumed  our  journey  and  were 
well  on  our  way  to  Geneva. 

For  a  charming  week  we  wandered  up  the  Valley  of  the 
Rhone,  and  then,  branching  off  at  Leuk,  we  made  our  way 
over  the  Gemmi  Pass,  still  deep  in  snow,  and  so,  by  way  of 
Interl  iken,  to  Meiringen.  It  was  a  lovely  trip,  the  dainty 
green  of  the  spring  below,  the  virgin  white  of  the  winter 
above ;  but  it  was  clear  to  me  that  never  for  one  instant  did 
Holmes  forget  the  shadow  which  lay  across  him.  In  the 
homely  Alpine  villages  or  in  the  lonely  mountain  passes,  I 
could  still  tell  by  his  quick  glancing  eyes  and  his  sharp  scru- 
tiny of  every  face  that  passed  us,  that  he  was  well  convinced 
that,  walk  where  we  would,  we  could  not  walk  ourselves  clear 
of  the  danger  which  was  dogging  our  footsteps. 

Once,  I  remember,  as  we  passed  over  the  Gemmi,  and 
walked  along  the  border  of  the  melancholy  Daubensee,  a 
large  rock  which  had  been  dislodged  from  the  ridge  upon  our 
right  clattered  down  and  roared  into  the  lake  behind  us.  In 
an  instant  Holmes  had  raced  up  on  to  the  ridge,  and,  stand- 
ing upon  a  lofty  pinnacle,  craned  his  neck  in  every  direction, 
it  was  in  vain  that  our  guide  assured  him  that  a  fall  of  stones 


*54  MEMOIRS  OF  SHERLOCK  HOLMES 

was  a  common  chance  in  the  spring-time  at  that  spot.  He 
said  nothing,  but  he  smiled  at  me  with  the  air  of  a  man  who 
sees  the  fulfilment  of  that  which  he  had  expected. 

And  yet  for  all  his  watchfulness  he  was  never  depressed. 
On  the  contrary,  1  can  never  recollect  having  seen  him  in 
such  exuberant  spirits.  Again  and  again  he  recurred  to  the 
fact  that  if  he  could  be  assured  that  society  was  freed  from 
Professor  Moriarty  he  would  cheerfully  bring  his  own  career 
to  a  conclusion. 

"  I  think  that  I  may  go  so  far  as  to  say,  Watson,.that  I  have 
not  lived  wholly  in  vain,"  he  remarked.  "  If  my  record  were 
closed  to-night  I  could  still  survey  it  with  equanimity.  The 
air  of  London  is  the  sweeter  for  my  presence.  In  over  a 
thousand  cases  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  ever  used  my 
powers  upon  the  wrong  side.  Of  late  I  have  been  tempted 
to  look  into  the  problems  furnished  by  nature  rather  than 
those  more  superficial  ones  for  which  our  artificial  state  of 
fociety  is  responsible.  Your  memoirs  will  draw  to  an  end, 
Watson,  upon  the  day  that  I  crown  my  career  by  the  capture 
or  extinction  of  the  most  dangerous  and  capable  criminal  in 
Europe." 

I  shall  be  brief,  and  yet  exact,  in  the  little  which  remains 
for  me  to  tell.  It  is  not  a  subject  on  which  I  would  willingly 
dwell,  and  yet  I  am  conscious  that  a  duty  devolves  upon  me 
to  omit  no  detail. 

It  was  on  the  3d  of  May  that  we  reached  the  little  village 
of  Meiringen,  where  we  put  up  at  the  Englischer  Hof,  then 
kept  by  Peter  Steiler  the  elder.  Our  landlord  was  an  intelli- 
gent man,  and  spoke  excellent  English,  having  served  for 
three  years  as  waiter  at  the  Grosvenor  Hotel  in  London.  At 
his  advice,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  4th  we  set  off  together, 
with  the  intention  of  crossing  the  hills  and  spending  the  night 
at  the  hamlet  of  Rosenlaui.  We  had  strict  injunctions,  how- 
ever, on  no  account  to  pass  the  falls  of  Reichenbach,  which 
are  about  half-way  up  the  hill,  without  making  a  small  detour 
to  see  them. 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  255 

It  is,  indeed,  a  fearful  place.  The  torrent,  swollen  by  the 
melting  snow,  plunges  into  a  tremendous  abyss,  from  which 
the  spray  rolls  up  like  the  smoke  from  a  burning  house.  The 
shaft  into  which  the  river  hurls  itself  is  an  immense  chasm, 
lined  by  glistening  coal-black  rock,  and  narrowing  into  a 
creaming,  boiling  pit  of  incalculable  depth,  which  brims  over 
and  shoots  the  stream  onward  over  its  jagged  lip.  The  long 
sweep  of  green  water  roaring  forever  down,  and  the  thick 
flickering  curtain  of  spray  hissing  forever  upward,  turn  a  man 
giddy  with  their  constant  whirl  and  clamor.  We  stood  near 
the  edge  peering  down  at  the  gleam  of  the  breaking  water  far 
below  us  against  the  black  rocks,  and  listening  to  the  half- 
human  shout  which  came  booming  up  with  the  spray  out  of 
the  abyss. 

The  path  has  been  cut  half-way  round  the  fall  to  afford  a 
complete  view,  but  it  ends  abruptly,  and  the  traveller  has  to 
return  as  he  came.  We  had  turned  to  do  so,  when  we  saw  a 
Swiss  lad  come  running  along  it  with  a  letter  in  his  hand. 
It  bore  the  mark  of  the  hotel  which  we  had  just  left,  and  was 
addressed  to  me  by  the  landlord.  It  appeared  that  within  a 
very  few  minutes  of  our  leaving,  an  English  lady  had  arrived 
who  was  in  the  last  stage  of  consumption.  She  had  wintered 
at  Davos  Platz,  and  was  journeying  now  to  join  her  friends  at 
Lucerne,  when  a  sudden  hemorrhage  had  overtaken  her.  It 
was  thought  that  she  could  hardly  live  a  few  hours,  but  it 
would  be  a  great  consolation  to  her  to  see  an  English  doc- 
tor, and,  if  I  would  only  return,  etc.  The  good  Steiler  as- 
sured me  in  a  postscript  that  he  would  himself  look  upon  my 
compliance  as  a  very  great  favor,  since  the  lady  absolutely 
refused  to  see  a  Swiss  physician,  and  he  could  not  but  feel 
that  he  was  incurring  a  great  responsibility. 

The  appeal  was  •  one  which  could  not  be  ignored.  It  was 
impossible  to  refuse  the  request  of  a  fellow-countrywoman 
dying  in  a  strange  land.  Yet  I  had  my  scruples  about  leav- 
ing Holmes.  It  was  finally  agreed,  however,  that  he  should 
retain  the  young  Swiss  messenger  with  him  as  guide  and  com- 


2g6  MEMOIRS   OF    SHERLOCK    HOLMES 

panion  while  I  returned  to  Meiringen.  My  friend  would  stay 
some  little  time  at  the  fall,  he  said,  and  would  then  walk 
slowly  over  the  hill  to  Rosenlaui,  where  I  was  to  rejoin  him 
in  the  evening.  As  I  turned  away  I  saw  Holmes,  with  his 
back  against  a  rock  and  his  arms  folded,  gazing  down  at  the 
rush  of  the  waters.  It  was  the  last  that  I  was  ever  destined 
to  see  of  him  in  this  world. 

When  I  was  near  the  bottom  of  the  descent  I  looked  back. 
It  was  impossible,  from  that  position,  to  see  the  fall,  but  I 
could  see  the  curving  path  which  winds  over  the  shoulder  of 
the  hill  and  leads  to  it.  Along  this  a  man  was,  I  remember, 
walking  very  rapidly. 

I  could  see  his  black  figure  clearly  outlined  against  the 
green  behind  him.  I  noted  him,  and  the  energy  with  which 
he  walked,  but  he  passed  from  my  mind  again  as  I  hurried  on 
upon  my  errand. 

It  may  have  been  a  little  over  an  hour  before  I  reached 
Meiringen.  Old  Steiler  was  standing  at  the  porch  of  his 
hotel. 

"  Well,"  said  I,  as  I  came  hurrying  up,  "  I  trust  that  she  is 
no  worse  ?" 

A  look  of  surprise  passed  over  his  face,  and  at  the  first 
quiver  of  his  eyebrows  my  heart  turned  to  lead  in  my  breast. 

"  You  did  not  write  this  ?"  I  said,  pulling  the  letter  from 
my  pocket.  "  There  is  no  sick  Englishwoman  in  the  hotel  ?" 

"  Certainly  not ! "  he  cried.  "  But  it  has  the  hotel  mark 
upon  it !  Ha,  it  must  have  been  written  by  that  tall  English- 
man who  came  in  after  you  had  gone.  He  said — " 

But  I  waited  for  none  of  the  landlord's  explanations.  In  a 
tingle  of  fear  I  was  already  running  down  the  village  street, 
and  making  Tor  the  path  which  I  had  so  lately  descended.  It 
had  taken  me  an  hour  to  come  down.  For  all  my  efforts 
two  more  had  passed  before  I  found  myself  at  the  fall  of 
Reichenbach  once  more.  There  was  Holmes's  Alpine-stock 
still  leaning  against  the  rock  by  which  I  had  left  him.  But 
there  was  no  sign  of  him,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  I  shouted. 


THE   FINAL   PROBLEM  257 

My  only  answer  was  my  own  voice  reverberating  in  a  rolling 
echo  from  the  cliffs  around  me. 

.  It  was  the  sight  of  that  Alpine-stock  which  turned  me  cc  Id 
and  sick.  He  had  not  gone  to  Rosenlaui,  then.  He  had  re- 
mained on  that  three-foot  path,  with  sheer  wall  on  one  side 
and  sheer  drop  on  the  other,  until  his  enemy  had  overtaken 
him.  The  young  Swiss  had  gone  too.  He  had  probably 
been  in  the  pay  of  Moriarty,  and  had  left  the  two  men 
together.  And  then  what  had  happened  ?  Who  was  to  tell 
us  what  had  happened  then  ? 

I  stood  for  a  minute  or  two  to  collect  mysalf,  for  I  was 
dazed  with  the  horror  of  the  thing.  Then  I  began  to  think 
of  Holmes's  own  methods  and  to  try  to  practise  them  in  read- 
ing this  tragedy.  It  was,  alas,  only  too  easy  to  do.  During 
our  conversation  we  had  not  gone  to  the  end  of  the  path,  and 
the  Alpine-stock  marked  the  place  where  we  had  stood.  The 
blackish  soil  is  kept  forever  soft  by  the  incessant  drift  of 
spray,  and  a  bird  would  leave  its  tread  upon  it.  Two  lines  of 
footmarks  were  clearly  marked  along  the  farther  end  of  the 
path,  both  leading  away  from  me.  There  were  none  return- 
ing. A  few  yards  from  the  end  the  soil  was  all  ploughed  up 
into  a  patch  of  mud,  and  the  brambles  and  ferns  which  fringed 
the  chasm  were  torn  and  bedraggled.  I  lay  upon  my  face  and 
peered  over  with  the  spray  spouting  up  all  around  me.  It  had 
darkened  since  I  left,  and  now  I  could  only  see  here  and  there 
the  glistening  of  moisture  upon  the  black  walls,  and  far  away 
down  at  the  end  of  the  shaft  the  gleam  of  the  broken  water. 
I  shouted ;  but  only  that  same  half-human  cry  of  the  fall  was 
borne  back  to  my  ears. 

But  it  was  destined  that  I  should  after  all  have  a  last  word 
of  greeting  from  my  friend  and  comrade.  I  have  said  that  his 
Alpine-stock  had  been  left  leaning  against  a  rock  which  jutted 
on  to  the  path.  From  the  top  of  this  bowlder  the  gleam  of 
something  bright  caught  my  eye,  and,  raising  my  hand.  I 
found  that  it  came  from  the  silver  cigarette-case  which  he  used 
to  carry.  As  I  took  it  up  a  small  square  of  paper  upon  which  it 


258  MEMOIRS   OF   SHKRirOCK    HOLMES 

had  lain  fluttered  down  on  to  the  ground  Unfolding  it,  I  found 
that  it  consisted  of  three  pages  torn  from  his  note-book  and 
addressed  to  me.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  man  that  the 
direction  was  as  precise,  and  the  writing  as  firm  and  clear,  as 
though  it  had  been  written  in  his  study. 

"  My  dear  Watson,"  it  said,  "  I  write  these  few  lines  through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Moriarty,  who  awaits  my  convenience  for 
the  final  discussion  of  those  questions  which  lie  between  us. 
He  has  been  giving  me  a  sketch  of  the  methods  by  which  he 
avoided  the  English  police  and  kept  himself  informed  of  our 
movements.  They  certainly  confirm  the  very  high  opinion 
which  I  had  formed  of  his  abilities.  I  am  pleased  to  think 
that  I  shall  be  able  to  free  society  from  any  further  effects  of 
his  presence,  though  I  fear  that  it  is  at  a  cost  which  will  give 
pain  to  my  friends,  and  especially,  my  dear  Watson,  to  you. 
I  have  already  explained  to  you,  however,  that  my  career  had 
in  any  case  reached  its  crisis,  and  that  no  possible  conclusion 
to  it  could  be  more  congenial  to  me  than  this.  Indeed,  if  I 
may  make  a  full  confession  to  you,  I  was  quite  convinced  that 
the  letter  from  Meiringen  was  a  hoax,  and  I  allowed  you  to 
depart  on  that  errand  under  the  persuasion  that  some  develop- 
ment of  this  sort  would  follow.  Tell  Inspector  Patterson  that 
the  papers  which  he  needs  to  convict  the  gang  are  in  pigeon- 
hole M.,  done  up  in  a  blue  envelope  and  inscribed  '  Moriarty.* 
1  made  every  disposition  of  my  property  before  leaving  Eng- 
land, and  handed  it  to  my  brother  Mycroft.  Pray  give  my 
greetings  to  Mrs.  Watson,  and  believe  me  to  be,  my  dear 
fellow,  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"SHERLOCK  HOLMES." 

A  few  words  may  suffice  to  tell  the  little  that  remains.  An 
examination  by  experts  leaves  little  doubt  that  a  personal  con- 
test between  the  two  men  ended,  as  it  could  hardly  fail  to  end 
in  such  a  situation,  in  their  reeling  over,  locked  in  each  other's 
arms.  Any  attempt  at  recovering  the  bodies  was  absolutely 


THE    FINAL    PROBLEM  2  59 

aopeless,  and  there,  deep  down  in  that  dreadful  caldron  of 
swirling  water  and  seething  foam,  will  lie  for  all  time  the  most 
dangerous  criminal  and  the  foremost  champion  of  the  law  of 
their  generation.  The  Swiss  youth  was  never  found  again, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  one  of  the  numerous 
agents  whom  Moriarty  kept  in  his  employ.  As  to  the  gang,  it 
will  be  within  the  memory  of  the  public  how  completely  the 
evidence  which  Holmes  had  accumulated  exposed  their  organ- 
ization, and  how  heavily  the  hand  of  the  dead  man  weighed 
upon  them.  Of  their  terrible  chief  few  details  came  out  dur- 
ing the  proceedings,  and  if  I  have  now  been  compelled  to  make 
a  clear  statement  of  his  career,  it  is  due  to  those  injudicious 
champions  who  have  endeavored  to  clear  his  memory  by 
attacks  upon  him  whom  I  shall  ever  regard  as  the  best  and  the 
wisest  man  whom  I  have  ever  known. 


THE  END 


Popular  Copyright  Novels 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  of 
A.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Fiction 


Abner  Daniel.    By  Will  N.  Harben. 

Adventures  of  Gerard.     By  A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Adventures  of  a  Modest  Man.    By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Adventures  of  Sherlock  Holmes.    By  A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Adventures  of  Jiramie  Dale,  The.     By  Frank  L.  Packard. 

After  House,  The.     By  Mary  Roberts  Rinehart. 

Alisa  Paige.    By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Alton  of  Somasco.    By  Harold  Bindloss. 

A  Man's  Man.     By  Ian  Hay. 

Amateur  Gentleman,  The.     By  Teffery  Farnol. 

Andrew  The  Glad.    By  Maria  Thompson  Daviess. 

Ann  Boyd.  By  Will  N.  Harben. 

Anna  the  Adventuress.     By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Another  Man's  Shoes.     By  Victor  Bridges. 

Ariadne  of  Allan  Water.     By  Sidney  McCall. 

Armchair  at  the  Inn,  The.    By  F.  Hopkinson  Smith. 

Around   Old   Chester.      By   Margaret   Deland. 

Athalie.    By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

At  the  Mercy  of  Tiberius.    By  Augusta  Evans  Wilson. 

Auction  Block,  The.     By  Rex  Beach. 

Aunt  Jane.     By  Jeanette  Lee. 

Aunt  Jane  of  Kentucky.    By  Eliza  C.  Hall. 

Awakening  of  Helena  Richie.    By  Margaret  Deland. 

Bambi.     By  Marjorie  Benton  Cooke. 

Bandbox,  The.     By  Louis  Joseph  Vance. 

Barbara  of  the  Snows.     By  Harry    Irving  Green. 

Bar  20.     By  Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Bar  20  Days.     By  Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Barrier,  The.     By  Rex  Beach. 

Beasts  of  Tarzan,  The.     By  Edgar  Rice  Burroughs. 

Beechy.    By  Bettina  Von  Hutten. 

Bcila  Donna.     By  Robert  Hichens. 

Beloved  Vagabond,  The.     By  Wm.  J.  Locke. 

Beltane  the  Smith.    By  Jeffery  Farnol. 

Ben  Elair.    By  Will  Lillibridge. 

Betrayal,  The.     By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Better  Man,  The.    By  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady. 

Eeulah.     (111.  Ed.)     By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 

Beyond  the  Frontier.     By  Randall  Parrish. 

Black  Is  White.    By  George  Barr  McCutcheon. 


Popular  Copyright  Novels 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  of 
.4.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Fiction 


Blind  Man's  Eyes,  The.    By  Wm.  MacHarg  &  Edwin  Balmer 

Bob  Hampton  of  Placer.     By  Randall   Parrish. 

Bob,  Son  of  Battle.     By  Alfred  Ollivant. 

Britton  of -the  Seventh.     By  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady 

Broad  Highway,  The.     By  Jeffery  Farnol. 

Bronze  Bell,  The.    By  Louis  Joseph  Vance. 

Bronze  Eagle,  The.     By  Baroness  Orczy. 

Buck  Peters,  Ranchman.     By  Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Business  of  Life,  The.     By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

By  Right  of  Purchase.     By  Harold  Bindloss. 

Cabbages  and  Kings.     By  O.  Henry. 

Calling  of  Dan  Matthews,  The.    By  Harold  Bell  Wright 

Cape  Cod  Stories.     By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Cap'n  Dan's  Daughter.    By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Cap'n  ErL     By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Cap'n  Warren's  Wards.     By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Cardigan.      By   Robert   W.   Chambers. 

Carpet  From  Bagdad,  The.    By  Harold  MacGrath. 

Cease  Firing.     By  Mary  Johnson. 

Chain  of  Evidence,  A.     By  Carolyn  Wells. 

Chief  Legatee,  The.     By  Anna  Katharine  Green. 

Cleek  of  Scotland  Yard.     By  T.  W.  Hanshew. 

Clipped  Wings.     By  Rupert  Hughes. 

Coast  of  Adventure,  The.     By  Harold  Bindloss. 

Colonial  Free  Lance,  A.     By  Chauncey  C.  Hotchkiss. 

Coming  of  Cassidy,  The     By  Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

Coming  of  the  Law,  The.    By  Chas.  A.  Seltzer. 

Conquest  of  Canaan,  The.    By  Booth  Tarkington. 

Conspirators,  The.     By  Robt.  W.  Chambers. 

Counsel  for  the  Defense.    By  Leroy  Scott. 

Court  of  Inquiry,  A.    By  Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Crime  Doctor,  The.    By  E.  W.  Hornung 

Crimson  Gardenia,  The,  and  Other  Tales  of  Adventure     Bj 

Rex  Beach. 

Cross  Currents.    By  Eleanor  H.  Porter. 
Cry  in  the  Wilderness,  A.     By  Mary  E.  Waller. 
Cynthia  of  the  Minute.    By  Louis  Jos.  Vance. 

Dark  Hollow,  The.     By  Anna  Katharine  Green. 
Dave's  Daughter.    By  Patience  Bevier  Cole. 


Popular  Copyright  Novels 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  of 
A.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Fiction 


Day  of  Days,  The.     By  Louis  Joseph  Vance. 
Day  of  the  Dog,  The.    By  George  Barr  McCutcheon. 
Depot  Master,  The.     By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 
Desired  Woman,  The.     By  Will  N.  Harben. 
Destroying  Angel,  The.    By  Louis  Joseph  Vance. 
Dixie  Hart.     By  Will  N.  Harben. 
Double  Traitor,  The.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 
Drusilla  With  a  Million.     By  Elizabeth  Cooper. 

Eagle  of  the  Empire,  The.    By  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady. 

El  Dorado.     By  Baroness  Orczy. 

Elusive  Isabel.     By  Jacques  Futrelle. 

Empty  Pockets.     By  Rupert  Hughes. 

Enchanted  Hat,  The.     By  Harold  MacGrath. 

Eye  of  Dread,  The.    By  Payne  Erskine. 

Eyes  of  the  World,  The.    By  Harold  Bell  Wright. 

Felix  O'Day.     By  F.  Hopkinson  Smith. 

50-40  or  Fight.     By  Emerson  Hough. 

Fighting  Chance,  The.    By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Financier,  The.    By  Theodore  Dreiser. 

Flamsted  Quarries.     By  Mary  E.  Waller; 

Flying  Mercury,  The.     By  Eleanor  M.  Ingram. 

For  a  Maiden  Brave.    By  Chauncey  C.  Hotchkiss. 

Four  Million,  The.    By  O.  Henry. 

Four  Pool's  Mystery,  The.    By  Jean  Webster. 

Fruitful  Vine,  The.    By  Robert  Hichens. 

Get- Rich- Quick  Wallingford.    By  George  Randolph  Chester. 

Gilbert  Neal.     By  Will  N.  Harben. 

Girl  From  His  Town,  The.     By  Marie  Van  Vorst 

Girl  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  A.    By  Payne  Erskine. 

Girl  Who  Lived  in  the  Woods,  The.     By  Marjorie  Benton 

Cook. 

Girl  Who  Won,  The.    By  Beth  Ellis. 
Glory  of  Clementina,  The.     By  Wm.  J.  Locke. 
Glory  of  the  Conquered,  The.    By  Susan  Glaspell. 
God's  Country  and  the  Woman.    By  James  Oliver  Curwood. 
God's  Good  Man.     By  Marie  Corelli. 
Going  Some.    By  Rex  Beach. 
Gold  Bag,  The.     By  Carolyn  Wells. 


Popular  Copyright  Novels 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  of 
A.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Fiction 


Golden  Slipper,  The.    By  Anna  Katharine  Green. 

Golden  Web,  The.     By  Anthony  Partridge. 

Gordon  Craig.     By  Randall  Parrish. 

Greater  Love  Hath  No  Man.     By  Frank  L.  Packard. 

Greyfriars  Bobby.     By  Eleanor  Atkinson. 

Guests  of  Hercules,  The.    By  C.  N.  &  A.  M.  Williamson. 

Halcyone.     By  Elinor  Glyn. 

Happy  Island  (Sequel  to  Uncle  William).  By  Jeannette  Lee, 

Havoc.      By  E.  Phillips   Oppenheim. 

Heart  of  Philura,  The.    By  Florence  Kingsley. 

Heart  of  the  Desert,  The.    By  Honore  Willsie. 

Heart  of  the  Hills,  The.    By  John  Fox,  Jr. 

Heart  of  the  Sunset.     By  Rex  Beach. 

Heart  of  Thunder  Mountain,  The.    By  Elfrid  A.  Bingham. 

Heather-Moon,  The.    By  C.  N.  and  A.  M.  Williamson  . 

Her  Weight  in  Gold,    By  Geo.  B.  McCutcheon. 

Hidden  Children,  The.     By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Hoosier  Volunteer,  The.    By  Kate  and  Virgil  D.  Boyles. 

Hopalong  Cassidy.    By  Clarence  E.  Mulford. 

How  Leslie  Loved.     By  Anne  Warner. 

Hugh  Wynne,  Free  Quaker.    By  S.  Weir  Mitchell,  M.D. 

Husbands  of  Edith,  The.    By  George  Barr  McCutcheon, 

I  Conquered.     By  Harold  Titus. 

Illustrious  Prince,  The.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheitn. 

Idols.   By  William  J.  Locke. 

Indifference  of  Juliet,  The.    By  Grace  S.  Richmond. 

Inez.    (111.  Ed.)    By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 

Infelice.     By  Augusta  Evans  Wilson. 

In  Her  Own  Right.     By  John  Reed  Scott. 

Initials  Only.    By  Anna  Katharine  Green. 

In  Another  Girl's  Shoes.    By  Berta  Ruck. 

Inner  Law,  The.    By  Will  N.  Harben. 

Innocent.     By  Marie  Corelli. 

Insidious  Dr.  Fu-Manchu,  The.     By  Sax  Rohmer. 

In  the  Brooding  Wild.    By  Ridgwell  Cullum. 

Intrigues,  The.    By  Harold  Bindloss. 

Iron  Trail,  The.    By  Rex  Beach. 

Iron  Woman,  The.    By  Margaret  Deland. 

Ishmael.    (111.)    By  Mrs.  Southworth. 


Popular  Copyright  Novels 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  of 
A.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Fiction 


Island  of  Regeneration,  The.     By  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady, 
Island  of  Surprise,  The.    By  Cyrus  Townsend  Brady. 

Japonette.     By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Jean  of  the  Lazy  A.    By  B.  M.  Bower. 

Jeanne  of  the  Marshes.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Jennie  Gerhardt.     By  Theodore  Dreiser. 

Joyful  Heatherby.    By  Payne  Erskine. 

ude  the  Obscur*.    By  Thomas  Hardy. 

udgment  House,  The.    By  Gilbert  Parker. 

Keeper  of  the  Door,  The.    By  Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Keith  of  the  Bordfcr.    By  Randall  Parrish. 

Kent  Knowles:  Quahaug.    By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

King  Spruce.     By  Holman  Day. 

Kingdom  of  Earth,  The.    By  Anthony  Partridge. 

Knave  of  Diamonds,  The.    By  Ethel  M.  Dell. 

Lady  and  the  Pirate,  The.    By  Emerson  Hough. 

Lady  Merton,  Colonist.    By  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward. 

Landloper,  The.    By  Holman  Day. 

Land  of  Long  Ago,  The.    By  Eliza  Calvert  Hall. 

Last  Try,  The.    By  John  Reed  Scott. 

Last  Shot,  The.    By  Frederick  N.  Palmer. 

Last  Trail,  The.    By  Zane  Grey. 

Laughing  Cavalier,  The.     By  Baroness  Orczy. 

Law  Breakers,  The.     By  Ridgwell  Cullum. 

Lighted  Way,  The.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Lighting  Conductor  Discovers  America,  The.     By  C.  N.  & 

A.  N.  Williamson. 
Lin  McLean.    By  Owen  Wister. 

Little  Brown  Jug  at  Kildare,  The.    By  Meredith  Nicholson. 
Lone  Wolf,  The.    By  Louis  Joseph  Vance. 
Long  Roll,  The.    By  Mary  Johnson. 
Lonesome  Land.     By  B.  M.  Bower. 
Lord  Loveland  Discovers  America.     By   C.   N.  and  A.  M 

Williamson. 

Lost  Ambassador.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 
Lost  Prince,  The.    By  Frances  Hodgson  Burnett. 
Lost  Road,  The.    By  Richard  Harding  Davis. 
Love  Under  Fire,    By  Randall  Parrish. 


Popular  Copyright  Novak 

AT  MODERATE  PRICES 

Ask  Your  Dealer  for  a  Complete  List  ot 
A.  L.  Burt  Company's  Popular  Copyright  Ficrt>n. 

Macaria.    (111.  Ed.)    By  Augusta  J.  Evans. 

Maids  of  Paradise,  The.    By  Robert  W.  Chambers. 

Maid  of  the  Forest,  The.    By  Randall  Parrish. 

Maid  of  the  Whispering  Hills,  The.     By  Vingie  E.  Roe. 

Making  of  Bobby  Burnit,  The.    By  Randolph  Chester. 

Making  Money.  By  Owen  Johnson. 

Mam'  Linda.     By  Will  N.  Harben. 

Man  Outside,  The.    By  Wyndham  Martyn. 

Man  Trail,  The.     By  Henry  Oyen. 

Marriage.    By  H.  G.  Wells. 

Marriage  of  Theodora,  The.    By  Mollie  Elliott  SeawelL 

Mary  Moreland.    By  Marie  Van  Vorst. 

Master  Mummer,  The.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Max.    By  Katharine  Cecil  Thurston. 

Maxwell  Mystery,  The.    By  Caroline  Wells. 

Mediator,  The.   By  Roy  Norton. 

Memoirs  of  Sherlock  Holmes.    By  A.  Conan  Doyle. 

Mischief  Maker,  The.    By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Miss  Gibbie  Gault.    By  Kate  Langley  Bosher. 

Miss  Philura's  Wedding  Gown.    By  Florence  Morse  Kingsley. 

Molly  McDonald.  By  Randall  Parrish. 

Money  Master,  The.     By  Gilbert  Parker. 

Money  Moon.  The.    By  Jeffery  Farnol. 

Motor  Maid,  The.    By  C.  N  and  A.  M.  Williamson. 

Moth,  The.    By  William  Dana  Orcutt. 

Mountain  Girl,  The.    By  Payne  Erskine. 

Mr.  Binigle.    By  George  Barr  McCutcheon. 

Mr.  Grex  of  Monte  Carlo.     By  E.  Phillips  Oppenheim. 

Mr.  Pratt.     By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Pratfs  Patients,    By  Joseph  C.  Lincoln. 

Mrs.  Balfame.     By  Gertrude  Atherton. 

Mrs.  Red  Pepper.    By  Grace  S.  Richmond. 

My  Demon  Motor  Boat    By  George  Fitch, 

My  Friend  the  Chauffeur.    By  C.  N.  and  A.  M.  Williamson. 

My  Lady  Caprice.    By  Jeffery  Farnol. 

My  Lady  of  Doubt.    By  Randall  Parrish. 

My  Lady  of  the  North,    By  Randall  Parrish. 

My  Lady  of  the  South.    By  Randall  Parrish. 

Ne'er-Do-Well,  The.    By  Rex  Beach. 
Net,  The.    By  Rex  Beach. 


APRIL 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


to 


OCT  1  8 

SRLF 
QUARTt 


OCT16200S 


A     000  024  462 


